"Barbara Allen" in Tradition and in Print- Riley 1957
[This is the master's thesis by Riley in 1957. Due to the poor quality of the manuscript copy, the reproduction will require an enormous amount of editing which I may or may not undertake (the text has already been quickly edited when I put it on- page by page- and, I've edited the beginning and some sections).
The thesis may be viewed at:
http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2435&context=luc_theses
where it may be read in its entirety.
The weakness of this study is: it doesn't take into account recent articles (Cray 1966) and it is missing versions published after 1957 which include Bronson TTCB, Flanders (Ancient Ballads), Davis More Traditional Ballads 1960, Ozark Collection (Parlor, 26 versions) Max Hunter Collection, Wolf Folklore Collection, apparently Creighton (1950), Moores, Botte, Warners, Gainer, Rosenbaum (others) and importantly a host of recordings both from 1927 on - to later recordings- some of which were made after 1957.
Apparently none of the WPA texts from Virginia were studied and the LOC recordings, many of which are difficult to obtain.
R. Matteson 2015]
"BARBARA ALLEN" IN TRADITION AND IN PRINT
by
Sister Mary Athanasius Riley. B.V.M. 1957
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Loyola University in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
January 1957
_________________________________________________
LIFE
Sister Mary Athanasius Riley. B. V .M., was born in Exira, Iowa, February 3, 1909.
She was graduated from Oreston High School, Oreston, Iowa, May, 1927, and from Mundelein College, Chicago, Illinois, June, 1932 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
The author entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, Iowa in September, 1934. Since her profession she has taught chiefly English, in the schools of her community, in Colorado, Iowa, California, Nebraska and Illinois.
She began her graduate studies at Loyola University in the summer of 1952.
Periodicals in which the author's poems appear include Commonweal, Spirit and Lyrical Iowa. Two of her poems have been reprinted in anthologies: "Truth and Beauty" in Anthology Magazine Verse for 1938-1942 edited by Alan Peyter, New York, 1942; and "Meditation on Time," in Joyce Kilmer's Anthology of Catholic Poets edited by Janos E. Tobin, New York, 1955.
_________________________________________________
PREFACE
The study of a ballad as prolific as "Barbara Allen" involves the handling of a greater bulk of material than would ordinarily be dealt with in a master's thesis. Conclusions, to be valid, must be based on an investigation of all available material.
Some deviations from the usual methods of handling material in the field of English have been found expedient because of the special nature of the problem.
Following the practice used in other ballad studies, variants are referred to by the name of the editor and the letter used by him to designate the text, or as letter will be assigned by the author in the absence of such designation. These references will be placed in the texts thus dispensing the footnotes for each reference.
Special thanks are due to Dr. Marie Neville for her helpful interest in this project.
____________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I "INTRODUCTION" . . . . . Page 1
Antiquarian interest in the ballad exemplified by Pepys--Rome.ntl0 interest exemplified by Goldsmith ...... Bypaths in the history of the ballad---Theories about the ballad--Previous studies-Statement of objectives.
II. "BARBARA ALLEN" AS SEEN BY THE CRITICS AND BY THE PEOPLE . . . . . Page 13
Wide dissemination--- Scarcity of valid criticism---Impressionistic quality of much cr1ticism of the ballad--Testimony of ballad's popularity--Reasons for popularity--Further justification of the study.
III. "BARBARA ALLEN" IN PRINT . . . . . page 40
History of the ballad in print--Demonstration of the prior1ty of the "English" version--Critical opinion about relationship of English and Scottish ballads---James Oswald, the poss1ble author of the "Scotch" version--The ballad in broadsides--- --Significant printed texts of the ballad.
IV. THE VARIANTS OF "BARBARA ALLEN" . . . .. page 71
Traditional texts closely related to print---tabulation of characteristics of the texts unrelated to print--Summary or results of tabulation--Comparison of texts given by members of' the same family and from same locality
V. MINOR VARIATIONS IN THE BALLAD . . . . page 106
Variations in wording, discussed in detail with examples--Demonstration of possible priority of name Barbara Allen--Characteristics borrowed from other ballads--law of contradictions
VI. CONCLUSION. .... page 162
The universal esteem of the ballad unquestioned -- Hendren's Guess answered--The ballad as evidence of folk preference--Separation of pr1nt and living tradition ... Prediction for the future of the ballad
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . page 165
___________________________________________________
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM AND THE BALLAD
The founding of the Society of Antiquaries in 1572 was the culmination of the increasing preoccupation with the past
which was to continue to crow greatly in scope during the next century [1]. Hustvedt believes that Pepys' interest in popular ballads was largely due to this preoccupation with antiquities. His delight at hearing the "little Scotch song of Barbara Allen" [2]
in 1666 is certainly the most quoted of his comments and is "peculicar1y interesting from our popular point of view." [3] Hustvedt would place Pepys "on the borderland between the historian and the antiquarian" in his enthusiasm for the ballad. [4]
The second reference to the ballad occurs in 1759 when Goldsmith published the first of the impressionistic comments on
------
1 Sigurd Hernhard Hustvedt. Ballad Criticism in Scandinavia and Great Britain during the Eighteenth Century, London, 1916, 36.
2 Samuel Pepys. The Diary of Samuel Pepys. London, 1898, V, 175.
3 Hustvedt, Balled Criticism, 36.
4 Ibid.
__________________________________________1___________
"Barbara Allen" which have characterized references to it since.[5]
The fact that Goldsmith became acquainted with Percy during the preceding years may throw some light on Goldsm1th a recollection. However, his comment antedates Percy's Reliques by six years.
We do not know that version of the balled was known to Pepys under the title "Barbary Allen," or to Goldsmith as "The Cruelty of Barbara Allen." The latter title resembles the broadside title "Barbara Allen's Cruelty."[5] The problem of determining the time and place of the origin of this ballad is difficult if not impossible, but some facts can be assumed. There is strong presumptive evidence that "Barbara Allen" originated in the British Isles, for although it is the most prolific ballad in most parts of the English-speaking world, no trace of it can be found in any other language except for a few late literary translations mentioned by Child. [8]
[Several recent articles dispute this- RM]
----------------
5 Oliver Goldsmith "Happiness on Constitution," The Bee, II, October 13. 1759,t; 51-52; The, ~ .Q.f Ol1ver Goldsmith. ed. J . Gibbs, London. lo84-1D86
6 Ibid.
7 See Chapter III of this thesis for a discussion of printed versions of the ballad.
8 Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads; New York, 1886, II, 279.
____________________________________________2___________
The origin of the ballad is but one aspect of this study, however, for as C. Alphonso Smith has also pointed out, there is no standard version of a ballad. The surviving ballads are not already made cut are in the making. As long as a ballad circulates by oral transmission it is always in process of making or remaking. The first version, if we could catch it hot from the lips of the composing throng, would not, through mere priority, be one whit more authentic than the latest version, provided the latest
version was also the product of the people.[9]
In the same vein Hustvedt remarks that a ballad, "is not stifled out by the mere circumstance of being put down on paper.
the folk may continue to recite it; the student and the reader gain the opportunity of knowing it as it was at the moment it was
recorded in writing."[10]
If the printed text could always be considered a record of the ballad as it was at the moment of printing, the study of ballads would be simpler. However, it is a commonplace that many recorded versions have been changed to suit the taste of their editors. Hustvedt says that early nineteenth century editors
-------------
9 C. Alphonso Smith, "Ballads Surviving in the United States," Musical Quarterly, London. 1916, II, 120.
10 Sigurd Hernhard Hustvedt, Ballad books and Ballad
________________________________________3________________
from Scott to Jamieson down "were more or less thoroughly committed to the principle of shaping text according to their own
devices. [11]
This reshaping may indeed have produced better poetry but in the process the true ballad has been obscured. Such edited ballads have frequently reentered tradition in their altered form, In Chapter IV, I shall compare traditional texts with the printed texts to discover the extent of the influence of print on the oral tradition of this ballad.
Clues to the history of this ballad lead to a variety of interesting bypaths. Dolph says that the song was well known in
Colonial America and that the tune was borrowed for "Sergeant Champe," a long ballad about an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap General Benedict Arnold[12]. Dorothy Scarborough mentions a, song on the assassination of Governor William Goebel of Kentucky, composed by a mountaineer to the tune of "Barbara Allen"[13]. A paraphrase of the first four verses, written in 1752 by Sir Robert
------
11 Hustvedt, Ballad Crttic1sm, 11.
12 Edward Arthur Dolph, Sound Off! New York, 1949, 49.
13 Dorothy Scarborough, Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains
_______________________________________________4__________________
Murray Keith is included in the additional illustrations to Stenhouse's Illustrations[14], And a broadside in the Harvard College
Library contains a comic version of the ballad, by Sam Cowel.[15]
Newell reports that in Keene, New Hampshire, "Barbara Allen" was still being used for a children's game or dance in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. He describes this game as a rhythm in which couples facing each other "kept time with slow metrical movement, balancing without any considerable substance in place" while an elderly lady who was much in demand for parties, sang the ballad. At the final word, "Barbara Allen" courtesy (sic] took the place of the usual refrain."[16]
Although the story of "Barbara Allen" varies in details, it is fundamentally the same in all but the most fragmentary texts. A dying young man sends for Barbara, who takes her time about coming to his deathbed. When she sees him she recognizes his condition immediately with the words, "Young man, I think you're dying," to which he replies that, she alone can save him.
---------------
14 [Cecil James Sharp], further illustrations in [William StenhouseJ , Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry and Muslc
of Scotland, London, 1853. *300.
15 Harvard Broadside No. 252/42.28. (Currently missing from the collection.)
16 William Wells Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, New York, 1883, 78-79.
_________________________________________5______________
Various details of behavior ere inserted at this point but versions agree in making clear Barbara's refusal and her leaving him either dead or in a dying condition. Frequently, she accuses him of slighting her by ignoring her at the tavern when offering wine or toasting the "other girls." Lesa frequently the slight is offered at a dance hall or in another place. As she leaves him she hears the bells, or birds, reproaching her for her cruelty, and she repents and dies of a broken heart.
"Barbara Allen" is unique among popular ballads for, although tragic love is a universal theme and one of the most appealing to ballad singers, [17] this ballad seems to be the only one among the Child ballads in which sudden death is the result of unrequited love alone. This has led some to ascribe great antiquity to the ballad. Cambiare says, "This ballad must have a very old origin, and its story was known perhaps in prehistoric times. [18] His statement that there is a very old Spanish romance having the same story [19] need not imply any connection between the ballad and the romance.
The fact that Pepys refers to the song as having been
------------------
17 See Chapter II for a discussion of the theme.
18 Celestin Pierre Cambiare, East Tennessee and West Virginia Mountain Ballads; London» 1935, bE3.
19 Ibid.
___________________________________________6______________
sung by an actress [20] has caused some to believe it a stage song. Belden says of it:
Whether originally a stage song (as might be conjectured from Pepys' entry of January, 1666) or not, Barbara Allen has become and remains the most widely known and sung of all ballads admitted by Child to his collection. Its persistence
in print--broadside, stall and songbook--down to the present might be looked upon as a cause or an effect of its popularity; probably it is both. [21]
In a letter written to Arthur Hudson in 1940, Mrs. Eckstrom asserted that she and Phillips Barry had satisfied themselves of Samuel Pepys in 1666, Barbara Allen was not a stage song at all but a libel on Barbara Villiers and her relationship with Charles II.[22] But as late as 1952 Hudson had no knowledge that the argument had been published. [ 23]
Louise Pound was aware of Barry's claim, for she told the author of this thesis that Barry died before he published a
----------------
21 Henry M[arvin Belden, Missouri Folk Songs. University of Missouri Studies, XX, Columbia, 1940, 60,
22 Arthur Palmer Hudson, ed., Folk Songs of North Carolina, Vol. II of a collection of North Carolina Folklore, edited by Newman Ivey White, 3 vols., 1952, 111. Italics not in the original.
23 Ibid.
_____________________________________________7______________
proof that Barbara, Allen was a political satire which originated in the seventeenth century. [24]
In a paper read before the Comparative Literature section II [popular Literature] of the Modern Language Association,
Detroit, December 29, 1951, Dr. Pound states:
Phillips Barry is reported to have been working on it ["Barbara Allen"] by the time of his death, with a promising outlook for determining its seventeenth century start[25]
Those who do not believe that it originated as a stage song or a political satire are divided in their opinion as to whether
this song is indigenous to England or Scotland. Since Percy first called attention to an "English" and "Scotch" version[26] by publishing two texts of the ballad, it has become a common practice to refer to this dichotomy by labeling printed texts as either "English" or "Scotch." [27]
Hendren's intuitive guess that the ballad originated in Scotland, he bases on these assumptions: (1) the Scotch claim
-------
21", Louise Pound, Telephone conversation, September, 1954.
25 Louise Pound, "American Folksong, Origins, texts, and [";ocles of Diffusion," t?2u~hero Fglklore g.u5\rter.y * .x:vII, June,
1951, 116.
26 Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient Poetry, London, 1765, III, 125, 131.
27 See Chapter III for a discussion of theme texts.
___________________________________________8___________
to national origination, and the scarcity of challenge to this claim; (2) the traditional belief in its origin as a border
ballad; (3) the occurrence of' the border named Graham, l!mo (lj.) the plentiful survival of the old Scotch text in England and
P.. :Il€:rica, in contrast to a dearth of English and American texts in Scotland.[28] Since Hendren's chapter is, to date, though undocumented, the most ambitious study of the ballad, it will be necessary to examine these points to determine the plausibility of his guess.
"Barbara Allen" has attracted the attention of other students working under the direction of Professor Hudson, a student at the University of North Carolina completed a comparison of a control group of American Variants in 1944.[29] At Princeton, Hendren used texts and tunes of "Barbara Allen" as illustrative material in his dissertation on ballad rhythm and music.[30]
------------------
28 Joseph W. Hendren. "Bonny Barbara Allen," in
Mody C. Boatwright, l.2JJ£ 'Eravelerft. Dallas, 1953, 47-74.
29 Edith Cavell Walker, Characteristics 91.
('Barbara Allen" in America. Unpublished master's thesis, Univer
_______________________________________
Coffin recognizes nine basic story types in the American variants which he examined.[31] These are,
(A) A young man lies on his death-bed for the love of Barbara Allen. He requests his servant to bring her to him (the mp_n usually delivers the message in person, though in some texts a letter is sent). She comes without too much enthusiasm and remarks that the lover looks as though he were dying. In response to his plaaainc:s, she accuses him of slighting her in tavern toasting, or at at ball. He defends himself, but she continues to scorn him. He dies of remorse. Later, when she hears the funeral bells she repents and dies. Sometimes the rose-brier theme is added.
(B) Like A, but the lover accepts Barbara' s scorn without offering a aefel'H:'!e. Not all these texts have accusations.
(C) Like A, but lover acknowledges the justice of Barbara's charge.
(D) story may follow type A or B, but the lover curses
Barbara.
(E) Like D, but Barbara curses the lover in return.
(F) The story mes be of either A or B types, but the man
lavishes gifts on Barbara in direct oontrast to her cruelty.
(G) Like A or B, although mother (or both parents) is usually blamed by Barbara for causing her to be cruel and the
mother (or both parents) ,'oine the lovers in death.
(H) Same as A, but view is given of courtship where Sir James the Graeme (See Child 213) tells Barbara she will be
mistress of seven ships if she marries him. He then slights her at the tavern and regular story ensues.
(I) A negro version in which 'Boberick Allen' is a man.[32]
----------
31 Tristram Coffin, lh!. British Traditional Ballads 1n North America, Philadelphia, 1950, tfi3-90.
32 See Chapter V for a discussion of another version showing change of sex.
__________________________________________
Hudson uses another collections he edited[33]. He classified them according to their beginnings under the heads:
(1) Those that begin in the first person of Barbara's lover (or at least of a narrator).
(2) Those that begin with a springtime setting.
(3) Those that begin with an autumnal setting.
He adds that group one may have either setting, and that the rose-brier ending may be added to any text. There is one
version continuing the lover's bequest. What can be predicted for the future of this ballad?
The modern revival of interest in ballads, while it has made them more widely known and appreciated, will probably kill the traditional character of these songs. Even now, it is difficult to reclaim another truly traditional variant. In response to an inquiry made through the columns of the Washington [D.C.] Evening Star, Elmer Helm of Brentwood, Maryland, who first heard the song about seventy years ago through two cousins who lived on a farm adjoining his father's in Texas, sent a copy of the ballad to the paper. In a letter to the author dated June 27, 1955, Mr. Helm says, "I do not remember how much of the song I then heard. The words I sent to the paper. I learned from a recording.
-----------------
33 Hudson, Folk Ballads in North Carolina, 111.
___________________________________11________________
"Since that time I have heard a fuller version with the addition of several verses. These correct the story on to the
death and burial of her lover, also to her own death, apparently out of remorse."
Another casual mention of this thesis caused a listener to become animated and to reply with B, nostalgic allusion to the ballad sung by a neighbor woman in Amunosa, Iowa, who had come from Virginia. I tried to prime her memory with texts of the
ballad, but succeeded in getting only a few phrases.
Previous studies of this ballad have pointed out a vast number of texts and comments available. In fact, the bulk of material has sometimes confused the student who has been able to examine only a portion of it. It 1s the purpose of this thesis to examine all available material with a view to integrating fragmentary knowledge and fleeting impressions so that a clearer picture of the origin, history, and present condition of this ballad will emerge. I will begin by examining the comments of scholars and the folk, compare the printed texts of the ballad, and proceed to an analysis of the ballad in tradition to establish the relationship between print and tradition, and between various traditional texts.
_______________________________________
Chapter II: BABARA ALLEN AS SEEN BY THE CRITICS AND THE PEOPLE
"Barbara Allen" is both rewarding and frustrating to the student of the ballad. It has been hnl1ed with enthusiasm
and remembered with nostalgia by the educated and by the unlettered. It is held in contempt b3r some for its very weed-like
adaptability and survival, yet is never ignored. It is widely scattered, as deep-rooted and as common as the dandelion. The
stability of its characteristics over a wide area and through successive generations indicates a vitality which is independent of artificial dissemination. W. H. Hendren recognizes this when he says:
There can be nothing basically adventitious about the fame of a song which endures through centuries. The explanation of its hold upon the public lies in the ballad itself, in the simple beauty of its language and melody and the emotional impact of the dramatic situation. [1]
It is scarcely possible to find e. since brief comment on ballads which does not contain the name of' "Barbara Allen," yet when these references are compiled, the scarcity of valid
--------------------
1 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 60.
_________________________________________13__________
literary criticism could well be discouraging did we not realize that there is little mention of individual titles in ballad
criticism. Early enthusiasts devoted their energy to justify in the popular ballad as a type worthy of consideration as literature and scarcely ever mentioned ballads by name.[2]
Hustvedt points out the lack of early criticism when he says:
In glancing back over the period from Sidney to Addison, we note in England and Scotland a good deal of interest in the private collecting of popular ballad, and some interest in getting them into print, but very little criticism properly so called.[3]
A few available comments show in what admiration critics hold this song. Gordon claims for his version "it is sheer music from beginning to end," [4] and Bryant classified it among certain well known ballads which reveal the genre at the height of its perfection and the beginning of its decline.[5]
There are exceptions to the esteem in which this ballad is almost universally held. Louise Pound discouraged this study
--------------
2 For B. detailed account of the history of ballad criticism see Hustvedt, Ballad Criticism.
3 Ibid., 61.
4 Robert fl. Gordon, Folk Song of America, New York, 1938
5 F[rank] Elgbert] Boston, 1913, 50.
__________________________________________14____
with a disparaging remark that if no one has made a thorough study of this ballad, the reason lies in the fact that everyone
recognizes that there is little of value in it to study because it is a seventeenth century stage song which has been disseminated chiefly through print.[6] Dr. Pound dismisses the ballad in the following:
"Barbara Allen's Cruelty" (no II 84) was heard by 5amuel Pepys in 1666 and it may have made its debut on that occasion
the sone 1s very current in the United States though unstable of text and melody as is to be expected.[7]
Dr. Pound's assumption that the ballad is a stage song is based on the fact that it was sung by an actress--an obviously
logioal conclusion. The reliability of Dr. Pound I s comments on this ballad can be further Judged by the fact that in 1913 she referred to the "many Nebraska variants of this ballad, [8] yet research has failed to unearth these variants. The University of Nebraska. The Nebraska Historical Society, even Dr. Pound herself, can Give no clue to their whereabouts.[9]
Although Gummere puts the ballad in a class "just
----------------
6 Telephone conversation.
7 Pound, "American Folksongs," 116.
8 Louise Pound, "Traditional Ballads in Nebraska," Journal, .21 Avqet:~gG FsJ..kl;$2ah Ph1ltldelphla., X:X:VI, Ootober-Deoember, 1913, 3~;1.
9 Verbal inquiries.
_______________________________________________15_____________
halting and trembling on the border of pure song. [10] Stemple comments, "The ditty first mentioned above seems to us somewhat over sentimental." [11]
Among the people, too, may be found those who hold this song too common to be of value. Mrs. Carrie Grover, a ballad
singer of nearly seventy, living in Graham, Maine, would not bother with "Barbara Allen" because "everyone knows it." [12]
The young woman of Joplin, Missouri, who requested that her name be withheld from any "hillbilly book," was reflecting an
attitude which some rural singers have toward ballads in general, yet the song she sung on July 4, 1924, when she made this request, was a version of "Barbara Allen... "[13] This clearly indicates that she did not make an exception in favor of this song, as did the young man referred to in the following report.
Mr. Henry Wharton, an old time fiddler, knew many songs and ballads and although his thirteen children show varying degrees of skill in singing and plucking the guitar, his twenty-three year old son, Charles, would sing only
------------
10 F[ranols] B[ertonJ Gummere. The Popular Ballad, Boston, 1907. 116.
11 Guido H. Stemple, A Book of Ballads Old and New. New York, 1917. 245.
12 Evelyn Kendrick Wells, The Ballad Tree,
13. Vance Randolph The Ozarks 1913
_______________________________________________16__
"Barbara Allen" and preferred, generally the modern songs he heard on the radio.[14]
In 1919 Miss Monnie McDonald of Lillington, North Carolina sang a reduced version of "Barbara Allen" which she had learned from her grandmother, Mrs. John Allen McLean. The editor's note that this was Mrs. McLean's favorite song testifies to its hold on an earlier generation of Americans.[15]
One of the most poignant expressions of genuine feeling among ballad singers is recorded by William Owens:
In the fall of 1938 a friend took me to see Dob Brown,
who lives on the road between Kountze and Sour LeJre and at
the edge of the Big Thicket. It In a!lS11er to our request for
songs he replied that he knew, "Sweet William." Needing little urging, he leaned IV:~B,lnst the picket fence and ormg
this version of "Barbara Ellen." When he oame to the line, 'Young man, I think you're dying,' tenrs filled his eyes and he brushed at his wrinkled cheek with the back of his gnarled hand.[16]
The ballad is known to have existed at least three hundred years, The earliest known reference to a ballad of "Barbara Allen" is the frequently quoted passage from Pepys who entered in h1is diary under the date, January 2, 1666: Up by candle-light. and my business being done I to my
-------------
14 MacEdward Leach and Horaoe P", Beck, "Songs from Rappahonnook County, V1rglnia, Journal of American Folklore, Philadelphia, LXIII. July-September, 1950, 249.
15 Hudson, Folk Ballads in North Caroline., 124.
16 William A. Owens, Studies in Texas Folklore, Unpublished Doctor!}.l Disf-I(?l'te.tion, University of Iowa, Iowa City,
_______________________________________17___________
Lord Brounokner's and there found Sir J. Minnes and all his company, and Mrs. Boreman and Mrs. Turner but above all, my dear Mrs. Knipp, with whom I sang, and in perfect pleasure, I was to hear her sing, and especially her little Scotch song or Barbary Allen.[17]
A century elapses before another mention of the ballad is preserved although it had been disseminated by print and oral transmission throughout the English-speaking world. This second reference occurs in Goldsmith. third essay, "Happiness. In a great Measure. Dependant on Constitution." It was originally publiahed in Number II of .:sa 1I.l. October 13. 1759. Here the Irish poet associates the ballad with a fee11ng of, nostalgia tor the unapolled happiness of his youth... His statement is significant as being the first of many such impressionistic comments on this ballad. He says:
..
When I reflect on the unambitious retirement in which I passed the early part of my life in the country, I cannot avoid reeling some pain in thinking that those happy days are gone forever. Then follows the oft-quoted passage:
The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when an old dairymaid sung me unto tears with "Johnny Armstrong's Last Goodnight, it or the "Cruelty of Barbara Allen."[19]
----------------
17 Pepys, Diary 175
18 ibid, 177
19 Goldsmith, "Happiness"
____________________________________________18_____
According to Hustvedt. "Goldsmith's most interesting and, because supported by practice, most valuable criticism is in The Vicar of Wakefield[20]. Here Farmer Flemborough and the Blind Piper take tums entertaining Parson Primrose "while one played the other would sing some soothing ballad. Johnny Armstrong's Last Goodnight, or the Cruelty of Barbara Allen. [21]
Whatever Hustvedt means by this statement. Goldsmith's second reference to the same ballad strengthen the association of "Barbara Allen" with the simple pleasures of the Irish Writer's youth.
The power of this ballad to evoke emotions further illustrated by Joyce, who ... ,. that a lo'1.m3 girl. Ellen Ray of Glencoe, in 1841 sang this song "with such power and feeling that the air became at once Poetry on my memory.[22]
Following this impressionistic trend we find that the song appeals to a poet as modern as Carl Sandburg. whose oomment is quoted by editors almost as frequently as that of Goldsmith:
Sometimes in the singing of this song, I get the feel of old snarled, thorn apple trees and white crabapple blossoms printed momentarily on a blue sky, of evanescent
--------------------
20 Hustvedt. Ballad Criticism, 203-204.
21 Ollver; Goldsmith" Vicar of Wakefield, London. 1766,
36-37: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith ed. t J. W.. M. Gl bba.
London ~~IS80, 1.5.
22 P [atrlek] W [eaton] Joyoe, MSt1tnSo Ir11l!s ;MYIi:Sh
DublIn, 187', 79.
______________________________________________19__________
things, of the paradox of tender and cruel forces operating together in life. Perhaps something of that paradox working in the hearts of people has kept 'the Barbara Allen story alive and singing through three centuries and more. [23]
A correspondent who contributed a version of the ballad to the columns of The State, a newspaper published in South Carolina, accompanied his text with this account.
It has been over fifty years ago [ea 1870] when I was a boy at my home in Darlington County. My cousin sang the song as she frequently did. . .I don't remember if I ever knew what we-roe the trout)l.. of Barbara Allen and young William but I remember the plaintive mournful tune and it brings back to my recollection the scene of Cape jessamine and ndmoa& blossoms. the note o{. the whippoorwill, and the peculiar ballad of the negroes.[24]
Bertrand Jones in the same impressionistic vein, l!:ulyst It is the type of song Andrew Lang must have had in mind when he said, Ballads are a voice from secret places, from silent peoples, and old times long dfiad and an such they stir us in a strangely intimate fashion to which Artistic verse can never attain.[25]
"Certainly," says Professor Raine, no one who has ever heard this old song sung by women "battling" their clothes before lonely cabins, or by flat boatmen under the blazing sun on the forks of the Kentucky River can ever forget the profound impression of almost magic melancholy it produces. . . Curious enough--for me
-----------
23 Carl Sandburg, American Songbag NY 1927. 57.
24 The State newspaper, February 29, 1912, quoted in
Bulletin of University of South Carolina Columbia, CUI, 111.
25 Bertrand L. Jones; -Folklore in Michigan.," Kalamazoo .NStumJ. Reset'_ Kalamazoo, l.fay. 1914.
________________________________________20_________
at all events ...... the poem is more moving in this corrupt Cumberland version than in any printed one that he's come down to us. In this because certain expressions like "yonders" having all but lost their meaning, lend to the verses something of that mystery and strangeness which are implicit in the very ideal of romantic art." [26]
Elsewhere Professor Raine says "It has sung itself with plaintive sweetness into the hearts of many generations."[27]
There is abundant evidence of the continued popularity of this ballad. Chappell says that the "general popularity of 'Barbara Allen' dates from 1765 when Bishop Percy presented his elegant version in the third volume of Reliques of Antique Poetry."[28]
In the flret quarter of the nineteenth century Allan Cunningham, a ballad collector and. editor, tells of versions he has seen:
The song of Barbara Allan is very old and very popular, and its beauty and pathos have carried it from cottage to castle, and from castle to palace. I have seen several embellished versions, but simpliclty and nature resume their rights, and we return to the plain rude copy of Allan Ramsay; and by that I think we had better adhere.[29]
----------
26 [James W. Raine]. Berea Quarterly Berea, Kentucky, XVIII. October. 1915. 15-16. 1924, 11.
27 James W. Raine, ~.at 1b& ~lISjl;t§~. Texarkana
28 William Chappell t ed .. , ~ RQ,cl1':.a.£Rht ~llAdl. Hertford, 1880. III. 43'.
29 Allan Cunningham. The songs of Scotland, London 1825, II, 174.
____________________________________________________21______
Sharp states that there is no ballad that country singer are more fond of, [30] and in the introduction to his Somerset version of that ballad he e .. ya there is no ballad that is better known in Somerset."
In 1891 Kidson admitted that few ballads have had a more lasting popularity than "Cruel Barbara Allen." The story is common both in England and Scotland and it may I have no doubt, be equally well known in Ireland."[32]
But he showed himself out of sympathy with the folk by declaring that the versions of the day had become so corrupted "... to make a very doleful and piteable story into that which might provoke more laughter than sympathy."[33]
Stenhouse asserts it has been " .. favorite ballad at every country fire-side in Scotland, time out of memory, The strains or the ancient minstrel who composed this song may indeed, appear haNh and unpolished when compared with modern refinement, nevertheless he has depleted the boldftta of At..torl with such a bo14. gl."in,;, and maaterl,penol1 as would do credit to any age.[34]
-------------
30 Cecil J[ames] Sharp, One Hundred English Folksongs; Boston. 1916, XX.
31 Cecil J[ames] Sharp and Charles L. Merson, Folk Songs from Somerset, London, 1905, 68.
32 Frank Kidson, Traditional Tunes, Oxtord" 1891, 36.
33 Ibid.
34 Stenhouse, Illustrations 213.
_________________________________________________22___________
When in 1912, Mr. W. E. Gilbert, a student of the University of Virginia, uncovered a new version of the ballad, he was surprised to learn how universally known it was among the people. "Barbara Ellen" is generally known among the people or that particular locality, being sung alike by the educate and the unlettered and ranking as one of the most popular of their favorite songs. It 1s used moat frequently as an open-air or camping song, although it is nearly always rendered by a single singer.[35]
The inclusion. of this song in the repertoire of a great number of country singers interviewed by ballad collectors is testimony of the place of the song in the heart of the people. MaoKenzie tells of a ballad singer, Mrs. Jake Langville, who offered to make atonement for leaving out a stanza of "Lord Thomas" by volunteering that she remembered part of an old song which her uncle used to sing for the women "When he was feelin' good natured and which was called Barberry Ellen."[36]
Fuson tells of a country fiddler who having played a song for him replied to his request for one of the singer's own choice, "A' right, 'Barbara Allen.' "[37]
-----------
35 Stuart Seeger and Loyal A. Morrow, "A New Discovery in Ballad Literature, university of Virginia Magazine April 1913, 329.
36 William Roy MacKenzie, Quest of the Ballad. Princeton. 1919, 100.
37 Harvey H. Fuson. Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands. London, 1931, 6.
____________________________________________________23______
A collector of this ballad in Knoxville. Tennessee, thinks the texts are not significant in themselves but adds that the failure to find any texts would have been surprising to a ballad collector." Several instances are cited of ballad singers who had heard so many versions of the song that the one they sing is of necessity a compilation, since they can't remember any one version.[38] One young man who sang the song in July, 1937 had first heard it from his mother but had heard it so many times since, that he "never sings the words the same way.[39]
"It's a hurtin' song," is an approving comment of country people, according to Josephine MeGlll.[40] Callie Craven, a ballad singer of Alabama, who could neither read nor write, said she had heard "Barb'ry Allen" many times over the radio "but they never sing it right and I don't like it. It's a dwellin' song and must be sung slow and mournful dwellln' on the long notes." [41]
William Owens, who mentioned having collected twenty-
----------
38 Edwin Oapers Xirkland and Mary Neal Kirkland "Popular Ballads Reoorded in Knoxville. Tennessee." 5QuioOto lo;USlga il!IDlrkY' II. June, 1938, 71.
39 Ibid.
40 Josephine McGill, "Sing All a Green Willow," North Amer~21D HI!~tl. CCXVIII. August, 1929, 220.
1950, 8,
41 Byron Arnold, fo;tlSI9ftl5' trel AJ.m12tUll. Blrminf!)1am
_______________________________________________24__
five versions in Texas[42] declares, "I heard the song so often that I simply gave up trying to record variants."[43] Dr. Owens testifies, however, that most of these are but "bob-tailed versions" of the text he printed.[44]
Kolb summarizes the influence of the ballad when he says "Barbara Allen" has charmed the English-speaking world for over three hundred years. Already a tradition in Colonial times this story of love blighted by youthful pride was sung in most American homes up through the Civil War. Even today, in rural America, Barbara's fame rivals a Hollywood stars.[45]
William Larkin. a young man of Illinois, stated in the introduction to his personal collection, "A Book of All Songs" begun in 1866:
These are selected [by the author] from the best songs he knows, which he believes to be the best selected songs in this country.
Ruth Ann Musick, who edits the album, adds that the statement seem to indicate that his judgement did not err too far,
------------
42 William Owens, Texas Folk Songs, 1950.
43 William Qwens, letter to the author. May 14, 1956,
44 Owens, Studies in Texas Folk Song. 30: Texas Folk Songs
45 John Kolb and Sylvia Kolb, A Treasury of Folk Song 1948
__________________________________________________25_____
Inasmuch as folk song scholarship during the intervening eighty years has confirmed the fact that "Barbry Allen" etc. were undoubtedly the best "love longs and war songs of about 1866.[46]
The same year in which young Larkin embarked on his ambitious enterprise in Illinois, Nathaniel Grigsby was recalling, in a letter to Herndon, the songs sung by the recently assassinated president, Abraham Lincoln, during his youth in Illinois. In the letter, presented in the Weik manuscript and dated January 21, 1866, he says. "we sung a song called Barbra Allen."[47]
A recent editor include a version of "Barbara Allen" in a collection of Songs Lincoln Loved, with the statement for which he gives no source, "It is claimed that Lincoln stated in after years that 'Barbara Allen' was his mother's favorite song ...."[48]
"Barbara Allen" is the only Child ballad mentioned by Horace Greeley, who recalls singing as source of entertainment during his youth:
The Revolutionary War was not yet thirty years gone when I was born, and its passions, its prejudices, and its ballads were still current throughout that intensely Whig
---------------
46 Ruth Ann Musick. ed., "The Old Album of William
Larkin," ,zO'1tDA:i. at AmlrLSID [alJs.Ql!Jb LX, July t 1947, 210.
47 Albert J. Beveridge. Abraabam Lincoln. Boston, 1928
48 John Lair Songs Lincoln Loved NY 1954
_______________________________________________26__
region. When neighbors and wives drew together at the house of one of their number for an evening visit. there were often interspersed with "Cruel Barbara Allen" and other love-lorn ditties then in vogue, such reminiscences of the preced1ng age as "American Taxation."[49]
It 1s significant that Barbara Allen" 1s not listed as a reminiscence of the preceding age but as a song "then in vogue.
This ballad demands attention. too, for the very bulk of available variants. Reed Smith's statement of the leadership in America of this ballad has not been challenged. Of all the ballads in America "Barbara Allen" leads both in number of versions, number of tunes, and 1n geographical distribution. It 1s found all over the United States.[50]
He repeated the statement in 1937, adding that there were 106 texts and thirty-nine tunes in published colleotions which he names. [51] These numbers fall far below the number of available texts today. The Frank C. Brown collection, edited by Hudson, contains thirty-two texts of this ballad, and Hudson reiterates in his note the fact that "or all the ballads in the Child collection this is easily the moat widely known and sung, both
-----------
49 Horace Greeley. Recollections of a Busy Life New York, 1868. 51.
50 Reed Smith, South Carolina Ballads Cambr1dge, Massaohusetts, 1928, 129.
51 Reed Smith, "The Traditional Ballad in America," Southern eo.i19£' Quarterly, March, 1937, I, 16.
_______________________________________________27____
in the old country and in America, Scarcely a single regional gathering of ballads but has it.[52]
Of the ballad in Virginia, which is probably the source of dissemination in America, Davis says,
"Barbara Allen" is (loll! 2£3.no.ol in number of items collected, both of texts and music. Her ninety-two Virginia progeny are something of a reoaN. achievement, certainly for a lady who, according to the ballad, scorned her lover.[53]
There is no lack of testimony of the popularity of this ballad in local regions, Ruby Duncan testifies to the truth of Reed Smith's statement in Hamilton County, Tennessee:
Practically every pupil in the State Creek High School knows the song, some of them, it is true, having learned it from the radio, but most of them having heard it at home as small children. "Barbara Allen" was my keyword when I was trying to explain the kind or songs I wanted, to older people, and it very seldom failed to get a response "Oh yes, I used to know that," they would almost invariably answer, sing a stanza or two of it then perhaps think of another song.[54].
Geneva Anderson found it the beat known ballad in East Tennessee where she obtained nine well preserved versions
--------------
52 Hudson Folk Ballads of North Carolina 111.
53 Arthur Kyle Davia, Traditional Balalds of Virginia
Cambridge. Massachusetts, 1929, 302.
54 Ruby Duncan, Ballads and Folk Songs in North Hamilton County
_______________________________________________28________
for her collection.[55] Arthur Hudson found the statement true in Mississippi where the slxteen texts collected might easily have been doubled.[56] Robert Mason says It is the "most popular of all moss-covered ballads in Cannon County."[57] According to
Brewster "Barbara Allen easily ranks first among, Indiana ballads in point of number and version. recorded.[58] Morris .. ys 1. t is Florida's favorite Scottish and American ballad.[59] and Rayburn declares it the "best known folksong of ancient lineage in the Ozarks"[60] E.C. Perrow also testifies that "It is perhaps the most widely current of all the traditional ballads." In 1915 he he sa1d 1t was still sung by school children In Kentuoky.[61]
----------------
55 Geneva Anderson, A Collection of Ballads and Songs from Eastern Tennessee Unpublished Ma.t.r~. 8als" University of
North Carolina, Ohapel Hill, 1932. '3,
56 Arthur Palmer Hudson, [Plk, •• sat "1.'1111'122&, Chapel Hl11, 1936,95.
57 Robert Mason, lsll. ~ ~ ~ a:'~11 I2! 91ml2D Unpublished Ma.ter • 'lThe George Peabody College,
"ashv 11e, 1939 .. 23.
58 Paul G. Brewster, ii!aJ.11£11 .lId. §9M1 sd: lWUlnA. Bloomington, 1940, 99. .
59 Alton O. Morris, 'Folk Songs ot Florida, 1950, 290.
60 Otto Ernest Rayburn, Ozark Country. New York, 1941
61 E. C. Perrow, "Songs and Rhyme. of the South," Journal st. MltlaG 19l.iJ.S£f>, XXVIII, April-June, 1915, 129.
______________________________________________29____
In Iowa "Barbara Allen" has a history at least three generations long, for Miss Edith Stanley of Massena declared that her version was a favorite song at the Lyceums held in country sohoolhouses in her great grandmother's time.[62] In 191', an old lady In 0linton Oounty, Missouri, deolared her variant was a common neighborhood song when she was a girl.[63]
As late as 1927. a casual request by en lows. woman, for a copy of the ba11ad ellicted twenty replies from readers of Farm Life. The editors were moved to wonder if the time was ripe for a revival of old time songs since we are "surfe1ted with jazz and blues.[64]
The fact of the long and widespread popularity of this ballad, cannot be denied. Let us see what elements of the ballad itself have been responsible for this. Critics stl'tUUl three reasons for its continued appeal. They are, (1) its value as a good story; (2) the universal preference for its theme--tragic love; and (3) 1ts freedom from the limitations imposed by association with local tradition, There is one other element which
-------------
62 Earl J. Stuart (sic) Folklore from Iowa NY 1936
63 Henry] M[arvin] Belden, ·Old Country Ballads in Missourl." JAF XIX, October-December,
1906, 288 Henry Marvin Belden. __ ~ ____ [2~i esQ51 Columbia, Missouri. 1940, 60.
64 "Old Time Songs Sent in by Farm Folk, Farm Life, Spencer. Indiana, Maroh. 1927. 26.
_______________________________________________30______
cannot be ignored. The beauty of the melodies and their suitability for the theme must surely be 8, contributing factor in the popularity of the song; but a discussion of these melodies is outside the scope of this thesis. We can only agree with Joseph Hendren when he remarks that
to those who know and love folk songs it is needless to point out that the tNe e:rtM' of a tragic ballad can only be experienced in hearing it sung with feeling and also with dignity and a fair share of tonal beauty [65]
Let us see how far the story itself is acknowledged as a source of popularity. In 1825 Allan Cunningham wrote of the story:
Never was a tale of love or sorrow so simply told, yet we learn all we wish to know, and any further incident would only encumber the narrative and impair the effect. I have often admired the esae and simplicity of the tInt
veHe. and the dramatic beauty of the Meond. the former tells the time. ,the place, the name of the hero and the
heroine, and that love was the matte%" ot t.he ung, the latt.%' .end •• messenge, to the unrelenting maiden, the
simple I.,ul effectual way in which he delly.X'. hie _aater' &
message has been imitated in Ha~yknut •• [66]
In 1909 Hamilton Wright Mabie contrasted the story with the popular reading or his time. Contrast the story of Barbara Allen, whioh the forerunners of the people who now read the yellow Journals
-----------------
65 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 60.
66 Allan Ounningham, lJlI. 1ktnS • .Qt. §Sgtl:&Pa. London, 1825. II.
_____________________________________________31_________
once knew by heart, with Masterlinck's "Seven Princesses," and the simplicity and ingenious veracity of the song ate.nd
out in striking rellet.[67]
Josephine McGill bears witness to her own, sharing in the universal appreciation of the story:
of all such canticles or woe the one most tami1iar to mountain balladists, as to all the English speaking world, is Barbara Allen. There are few of us who have reached the misty mid-region as to our years who have not burned with indignant sympathy for the youth whose sole comfort from the lips of his scornful beloved was the remark, cruel and ungracious even from a ballad heroine, "Young man. I think you're dying." Later in the story, It is true, our indignation changes to pity when, looking upon the face of her dead lover Barbara turns away weeping,
O mother, mother, make my bed.
Go make it long and narrow.
Young Jemmy died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow." [68]
Miss McGill advances the modernity of the heroine's psychology as an added element ot appeal in the story there is a hint or subtle mental process animating Barbara's conduct entirely absent in the case of most ballad heroines, they are for the most part creatures of simple emotion and quick decisive action, but there is something in Barbara's coolness, her deliberation, most of all in her accessibility to remorse that is more complex, more modern, less according to fixed type than is the swift, passionate action of the other heroines who commit the irretrievable with no chance for after thought. Of none of them do we
read a passage like the following,
-----------
67 Hamilton Wright Mabie, "Barbara Allen's Cruelty"
The Outlook XCIII, October 23, 1909. 463.
68 Josephine MCGill, "Slng All a Green Willow," North American Review. OCXVIII, AugUst, 1929, 219.
_______________________________________
So slowly, slowly she got up.
And slowly she went from him,
The birds they sang so olear in her ear.
"Hard. .... hearted Barbara Allen."
Thus she oomes down to us beloved and remembered, not as "Cruel Barbara. Allen" but as "Bonny Barbara Allen:" lUte
young Jemmy Grove we sense something in her other than her cruelty, and we feel that he was wise to die forgiving her
and commending her to his "dear friends all." [69]
Phillips Barry once said that if Barbara Allen was not a real character it took genius to invent her for "no other woman in balladry stands out so in the round, with inoident, nature, and action all so consistently sequent."[70] The very stat!111ty of t.he heroine'. NU'lUt tells us that it 1. her story.[71] Only one printed veralon, "Slr John Grehme and Barbara Allan,"[72]
is not named for her alone. Hendren has a word to say about her dominance of the story:
It is a curious thing that whereas the hero masquaredes under a bewildering variety of names, or perhaps no name at
all, Barbara never ohsngesexcept for slightly variant pronunciations. . .The contrast Is explainable, I think, by one of the simplest axiomatic laws of ballad transmission: That the elements most important to the indispensable core of the narrative are always slowest to change or be lost,
---------------
69 McGill. ·Sing All a Green Willow," IRfMD Amtri21D Revlew, CCXVIII. August, 1929. 220.
70 Phillips Barry, ~t1t:~IQ 1211*~1 .t:r.2m 1M1Wh New Haven, 1929, 100.
71 For a discussion of the names of the characters, See Chapter V of thIs thesis.
72 Percy, Reliques 131.
_________________________________________
whether they be names, objects, or incidents. Here the figure of Barbara dominates the drama; she is of the two the dynamic soul, clearly defined throughout in the central focus of interest, and she therefore has exerted, in contrast to her lover, a far more tenacious hold on the memories of' traditional narrators.[73]
A second clue to its popularity is found 1n the basic theme ot the ballad, which is tragic love. According to Henderson:
Love is the theme of the larger number of the nonhistorical ballads. . . and it is oftener its tragic than its joyous aspect that 1. .at forth. What the ballad chietly exemplifies, 1. the strength" the supremaeYt the
tat.ruln... ot passion--a passion against the gratlr1cation
of which rank is no ''barr1er. which makes light of the
oppe.ltion ot relat1 ...... 1s blind to evil possibilities 'e
an4 mo:re frequently e brings woe than weal. .But the tales of love wb1eh 'they e •• ay to set forth are ev1dently old tales, tales which der1ve their credibility and much of' their 1nt.peat trom the fact that they represent a condition of society that 1s strange to the experienoe ot thf! lIstener.[74]
Entwistle believes that the survival of innumerable versions of such ballads as the "sentlmental Barbara Allen" is part of a certain 11m1 tat10n ot interest since "the modem singer prizes above all a love song, and the historical and supernatural ballads have receded from his ken," [75]
Bess Owens testifies to the accuracy of these remarks
-----------
73 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 64.
74 T[homas F[inlayson] Henderson, The Ballad in Literature
New York. 1912, 30.
75 William Entwistle European Balladry Oxford 1939, 241.
75 WIll1am J. Entwlatle, IMrgpt,tm "~U;U.I~i
_____________________________________
in the Cumberland region where she says "tragedy is the prevailing note, especially the tragic side of love ... [76] Another enthus1ast from Tennessee says:
Another very interesting body of folklore that closely touohed my life was the old love songs, As a child I felt deeply the tragedy of Barbara Allen when the old and mournful song was sung by my companions.[77]
Willlam Owens; a ballad enthusiast from his childhood preferred the tragic ballads during his early years, "I especially liked the ballads for their tragic stories," he says, "Utah Carroll and Barbara Allen were real people to me and I could easily come to tears over their sad endings."[78] By the time he was fourteen his preferences had changed but Barbara Allen" was still sung by the neighborhood boys who gathered on warm sunny day, under a bush arbor to sing .[79]
Referring to her own colleotion from Overton County, Tennessee. Lillian Crabtree says that "disappolnted love 1s a favorite subject. More of the songs [of this collection] deal
----------------
76 Bess Owens, Some Unpublished Folk Songs of the Cumberlands Unpubll.hri Mast.r t s ea s • George Peabody College, Nashv11e, 1930, 6.
77 L. L. MoDowell, "A Baokground of Folklore," 1.01110£1 By;t.llt1D. II I February ,19,6, 7.,
78 Owens, Texas Folk Songs 15-16.
79 Ibid., 27.
______________________________________________
with this phase than any other one .... Just as more songs deal With love then with any other general subject. [80]
Jean Thomas observes of this ballad. "Invariably sung by the lovelorn this ballad seems to express oompletely the mountaln lover's heartache and disappointment ... [81]
Hendren epItomizes the importanoe of the theme In the popularlty ot the ballad thus:
The story combines in a remarkably effective way the two imaginative sources of emotion dearest to the heart of the human race, namely romance and tragedy. the bewitching sweetness of love between man and maid, and, the impressive shock or death, with its attendant pathos. The two responses are authentically passionate: they have their roots deep in the physical and spiritual nature of man; the" i. a kind or biological and cosmic compulsion about both ot them. And they are given maximum freedom of action by the strange catalytic magic of the music in which their existence is poised.[82]
We have yet to examine the third reason for the appeal of' the ballad; namely, the universality ot the setting. Evelyn Wells says that
---------------
80 Lillian G. Orabtree. Songs and Ballads Sung in Overton County; unpublished Master's Thesis; George Peabody College, Nashville. 1936, 204.
81 Jean [nette Bell] Thomas, The Singin' Gatherin'; New York, 1939, 94.
82 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 59-60.
____________________________________________
the sturdiest survivors among transplanted ballads are those whioh are independent of special setting and circumstance, which in their dramatic form and interest, their special idiom, and their selection of themes of human exper1enoe treated in the most condensed manner and adjusted to the singer's experience, are the favorites of every folk singer. [83]
Indeed, there 18 IJlL singular _haenoe of local tradition associated with the ballad. The only place for which any historic association with the hero1ne is claimed seems to be Annan, Dumfriesh1re. Christie eays that the scene of the story is supposed to have been here.84 Evidently this claim orig1nated with Stenhouse who atat •••
A leam.. correspondent informs me, that he remembers hav1ng heard the ballad frequently sung 1n Dumfrieshlre,
where 1t 1 •• ald the oatastrophe took plac ...... that t:h.ere
were 1'$opl. of the name of Allan who resided. in the town of Annan-and that 1n some papers whioh he had seen, mention is made ot a Barbara ot that family J but h. 18 of
opinion she may have been baptized from the ballad.[85]
Oharles Kirkpatrick Sharp Identifies himself as the "learned correspondent" referred to by Stenhouse:
In this note Mr. Stenhouse alludes to me. Unluckily I lost the paper I found at Hoddam Castle, in which Barbara Allan
was mentioned. [86]
----------------------
83 Wells, The Ballad Tree 100.
84 W. Christle. Traditional; Ballad Airs. Edinburgh,
1876, 88.
85 Stenhouse, 1.J.yltEl:t:1oy. 21,..2.4 _
86 [Oharles Kirkpatrlck Sharpe] notes in James Johnson,
The Scots Musical Museum IV *300 ~:UJ''\UJ,tr£lt.QUI 9.t 1b.t. L;zr~s '"f !oetr:v'~o-t Soot a.nd. t ~ .1nburgh, 1853.
______________________________________
He adds the observation that the peasants of Annandale sang many more verses than have appeared in print, "but they were of no merit, containing numerous magnificent offers from the lover to his mistress--and among others some ships in sight, which may strengthen the belief that the song was composed near the shores of Solway. I need scarcely add that the name of Grahame, which the luckless lover generally bears, is still quite common in and about Annan."[87]
The only other local tradition is associated with Newberry, Vermont and is obviously not to be taken seriously. Barry says that a Barbara Allen was "jilted by her lover for a girl whom he described as fan angel without wings,' whereupon some local wag sent a pair of goose wings to the bride."[88]
These references, although limited in number and spanning nearly three oenturies, show the wide appeal of the ballad in time, space and circumstance. We have seen the worldly-wise but naive Pepys enjoying the singing of an English actress in seventeenth century London: the child Goldsmith moved to tears by the same song sung by an Irish dairymaid about three
generations later; and pioneer ohiidren who are listed among our
----------------
87 [Sharpe] notes in James Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum 300
88 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 200.
_______________________________________________________
nation's great names, taking part in the singing with their neighbors around a oabin fireplace. It he's been heard on the
lips of cowboys on the open range and of women at their household tasks in isolated regions. It is know today by schoolchildren
and sung by teen-agers whose preference in songs usually runs to modern jazz. Across the miles and through the years this song has seldom tailed to touch deeply the emotions of those who heard the tragic story of frustrated love. fh1e alone. I think, justifies a study of the ballad, no matter what its origin, history, or destiny. For ln the words of Addison:
It is impossible that anything should be universally tasted o:nd approved by .. multitude though they 1ll'4e only the
Rabble of a nation. which hath not in it some l)§cullar Aptness to plea.e and gratify the Mind of Men.[89]
-----
89 Joseph Addison, The Works of The Right Honorable Joseph Addison; 1883
___________________________________________________________
CHAPTER III
"BARBARA ALLEN" IN PRINT
Since Percy printed two texts of this ballad in separate places in his Reliques [1], it has become a common practice to refer to the "English" and "Scotch" versions of "Barbara Allen" as separate ballads.
This practice is sanctioned by no less an authority on folk literature than Gordon Hall Gerould,[2] who clearly indicates that he recognizes two ballads when he declares that the English and Scottish forms of "Barbara Allen" should not be omitted from a collection.
Bishop Percy's texts, however, are not the earliest texts or the ballad in print. The fact that Bishop Percy did not adhere to his sources in the publicatlon of texts is too well known to need demonstration. The earliest known printed text which Percy's "English" text approximates is the old
------------------
1 Percy, Religues, 125, 131.
2 Gordon H [all] Geroud. The Ballad of Tradition; Oxford 1932, 31.
_______________________________________________
Roxburghe text wh1ch was not published in book form until Chappell[3] edited the Roxburgne collection for the Ballad Society in 1880.
In the hundred And fifteen years which elapsed between the publication of the Reliques and the Roxburghe Collection,
Percy's text had gained such prestige in print that careless editors and commentators continue to confuse these texts to the
present. This oonfusion is apparent in such statements as:
The earliest publication of the old Roxburghe text in book form was Bishop Percy's in the Reliques 1765, and it was a great event in the career of the ballad.[4]
Students of the ballad Will hardly quarrel with the latter part of the statement, for the preponderance of Percy's text in songbooks and anthologies as can be seen from the bibliography appended to the thesis, in comparison with the few reprintings
of the Roxburghe text will make it evident that any search for the influence of print on tradition will necessitate a familiarity with the phrasing peculiar to Percy.
Hendren's confusion of texts is carried further in the discussion of the Roxburghe text where he states. "This old version contains fifteen or sixteen stanzas, the sixteenth, when
----------------------
3 William Chappell, ed. The Roxburghe Ballads
London, 1880, 434-436.
4 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 55.
________________________________________________
present expressing Barbara's familiar warning to "shun the fault I fell in,"[5] This phrase is found in print only in Percy's text, the broadside from which Percy is thought to have made his "corrections" since it was once in his possession, has a sixteenth stanza.
As she was lying down to die
A sad feud she fell in,
She said I pray take warning by,
Hard-hearted Barbara Allen.[7]
Indeed Percy's text has acquired so much prestige that even an accomplished student of folk lore can make the following remark about a tradltional text of the ballad:
A comparison with Percy's copy will show how much the above has suffered by being handed down traditionally.[8]
Chappell himself, stated his preference for Percy's version, which is the one he printed in his Music from Olden Times[9] published in 1859. He was already familiar with
----------------
5 Hendren, "Bonny Barbara Allen," 55.
6 this word, usually written "pray" is a clue to the dialect from which this text was taken down.
7 [Willlam Dicey, printer] "Barbara Allen's Cruelty;/or the/ Young Han's Tragedy/with Barbara Allen's lamentations for her unkindness to her/ Lover, and Herself./ to the Tune of Barbara Allen, Bow-Church-Yard-in London [ after 1730] Harvard College Library 25245.:56.
8 Frank Kidson, Traditional Tunes, Oxford. 1891. 40.
9 William Chappell. Popular Music of Olden Times London, 1859, 538.
__________________________________________________________________
the Roxburghe ballad at that time.
Having brushed aside the oonfusion caused by the palimpsest of Peroy's text over the earlier printed "English" version of the ballad we come to the old Roxburghe black-letter broadside. The earliest known printed text is this broadside headed, "Barbara Allen's Cruelty, or the Young Man's Tragedy; with Barbara Allen's Lamentation for her Lover and Herself, to the tune of Barbara Allen." This copy, preserved in the Roxburghe collection II, 25, is a stall ballad printed for "P. Brookeby, J. Deacon. J. Blare, J. Bach." Chappell[10] who edited the collection, considered this copy contemporary with Pepys.
Inquiry into the history or the publishers listed reveals that the broadside was probably printed between 1683, when Joseph or Josiah Blare Mean to do business in London and 1696, when Philip Brookaby ceased to do business as a bookseller.[11] The only other clue to the relative place at this text in the history of the ballad is that implied by the direction "To the tune of Barbara Allen.- Obviously a ballad of that
--------------
10 Chappell Roxburghe Ballads III 433
11 Henry R. Plomer, A Dictionary of Printers. . . 1922
_________________________________________________________________
title was already known to the prospective purchasers of the broadside, Londoners of the the seventeenth century.
We direct our attention next to the "Scotch" version of the ballad. Here the task is simpler, for although Percy's Reliques contains an "emended" version apparently more Scotch than its original, this "Scotch" ballad already had a history of twenty-five years 1n print by 1765 and was too well established for Percy's text to crowd it out of subsequent colleotions.
"Bonny Barbara Allen," the usual title of the "Scotch" text, is sometimes held to be closer to the original text than the "English" version. Hendren believes "there is indeed the possibility that this venerable speoimen may be a close approximation
to the unknown original composition."[12] Yet his intellectual honesty forces him to admit that "we have no factual knowledge about the old Scotch version however, until 1740, the year in which it was published by James Oswald in A Curious Collection of scots Tunes and also by Allan Ramaey in The Tea-Table Miscellany." [13] With curious inconsistency Hendren contines, "The ancient text has been abundantly preserved in trad1tion, as well as in many reprintings, down to our own time." [14]
----------------------
12 Hendren. "Bonny Barbara Allen, 51.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid. For examination of this statement with regard to traditional texts see Chapter IV of this thesis.
____________________________________________________________________
I am assuming that Hendren is correct 1n his implication of the identity of the text published almost simultaneously by
Oswald and Ramsay for I have been unable to locate a copy of Oswald's book. The fact that two copies of a hitherto unknown
text should be published simultaneously, argues for an identical source. We are not 1n possession of this hypothetical source t
but some remarks of critics about the ballads printed at this period may lead to significant conjectures.
Hodgart Informs us that
Reshaping by learned poets is most evident in the period 1740 to 1780 and it is perhaps no accident that many of
the great ballads appeared in the1r most beautiful form at
this time. • • • It was then that the art or the ballad
reached its he1ght in Scotland, and it seems likely that
th18 pertectlon ot ro~ was brought about by a number ot
talent. and anonymous poets. At a time when nt/v ballad:.
were no longer being oomposed and the practIce ot ballad
singing was probably beg1nnlng to decline, they tre.n,,:f"ormed
folk traditIon Into literature, and gave the balladS their
t1na.l form a8 tar aa literary criticism ls concerned ••••
:In the 1740 edition ot his Evergreen [sic] Allan Ramsay
put, the best version of 'Barbara Allan. [15]
Huatvedt poInts out the laok of scientifI0 treatment
of texts at this period, by edltors anxious to supply at demand
tor popular poetry:
The predominanoe of Soottish interest in popular poetry
during this period is partioularly noticeable in the publications of colleotion. such as Ramsay's and Thomson's.
The twelve editions of The Tea Table Miscellany bear Witness
-------------
15 M[atthew] J[ohn] C[aldwel] Hodgart, The Ballads, New York, 1950, 108.
____________________________________________________
to the strength of the demand for verse of this kind. Ramsay's work left much to be desired from a critical point of view. The scientific treatment of ballad text was not yet looked upon as necessary, or even desirable, and the capacity for such treatment was still relatively small. . . The discuislon of the ballad was on the whole not theoretical, but aethetic and literary, muoh as in the first quarter of the century. [16]
It is not necessary to question the intellectual honesty of Ramsay in his publication of this ballad. He supplied the demand of a "Scotch" public for a "Scotch" ballad, in the characteristic uncritical manner common to publishers of his time. Let us turn our attention to James Oswald, the other publisher of the ballad. Kidson, in making a case for James Oswald as the composer of "God Save the King," remarks,
The figure of James Oswald is shadowy enough, but it is evident from eighteenth century musical publications that he was a notable composer. . .[17]
Significant for Kidson's purpose is the fact that,
A peculiarity about James 0swald is that for some reason not now to be discovered, he frequently published anonymously
and under fictitious names.[18]
The author of a history of the music of Scotland, published in 1838, has this to say about Oswald's contributions to
---------------
16 Hustvedt, Ballad Criticism , 154.
17 Altred Moffat and Frank Kidson, The Minstrelsy of England London. 1901, 310.
18 Ibid.
______________________________________________
Scott1sh music:
The slow, drawling, and monotonous style of many Scottish melodies which were popular during the last century, is certainly something very different tram the description given by the Oambrian Churchman of our ancient airs and not a little at variance, we should lay, with the spirit and character of the nation, . . . the effervescent, enthusiasm of our countrymen. Some ot these airs were composed and most of those which have been handed down from antiquity were altered by Oswald and others, especially by the former, a person whose taste in music, although he unquestionably possessed some inventive talent (would that he had possessed less) was too much perverted by the age in which he lived tor him to relish the simple notes of our
primitive melodies, and who, accord1ngly, so far from taking pains to preserve them in there original form, generally contrived to adapt them to a formula of his own. [19]
In Regauntlet, Slr Walter Scott mentions Oswald thus, "It is not a Scots tune, but it passes for and Oswald made it himsel, I reckon. He has cheated mony a ane, but he canna cheat wandering Willie."[20]
If these quotations point to Oswald as a possible composer of the song it is not unrealistic to suppose that he is the
author of the text. Two years after the publication of his collection we find this versatile Scotchman in London, associated with the publisher, John Simpson. Kidson[21] belleves It not unlikely that he did hack work for this publisher.
-----------------
19 William Dauney. Ancient Scottish Melodies, Edinburgh, 1838. 205-206.
20 Walter Scott. Redguantlet Boston, 1868. 153.
21 Kidson, The Minstrelsy of England, 310.
____________________________________________
The anonymous editor of Oswald's correspondence states in the preface to that volume that at an early period of life he [Oswald] had prosecuted literary pursuits with great ardor and success, and made considerable proficiency in classical learning; and had not his attention been withdrawn from literature to politics . . . it is not unreasonable to presume, that with his
admitted talents, . . .he would have attained high literary distinction, and left a name worthy of being associated with those of his illustrious friends whose writings reflect so much honour on Scotland. . . [22]
The same anonymous eulogist[23], claims that Oswald's advice was sought and freely obtained by well known literary men of the period.
This extravagant praise leaves little room for doubt that Oswald possessed what passed for lIterary talent at the time.
Although no printed text need be considered the oldest form of the ballad, the controversy over whether this ballad originated in England or Sootland, which has cropped up perlodically throughout the known history of this ballad, must center about these two earliest known texts, which though differing in many reapects still show enough similarity in essentials to be treated as one ballad.
---------
22 Memorials of the Public Life and Character of the Right Hom. James Oswald of Duinnikier (etc.) Edinburgh 1825
23 Ibid.
_____________________________________________
Joyce declares "the English and Scotch have such a ballad named Barbara Allen and the words of the two ballads though differing considerably, are only varieties of the same original."[24]
A glance at what baa been said about the differences between English and Scottish ballads, in general, may throw some light on the problem.
Motherwell says that
the ballad poetry of England and Scotland has been at one time so muah alike, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to discriminate between What may be considered as the native production of the one, or the other. To lay down any general law for ascertaining their respective rights of property in literature of this description is therefore impracticable.[25]
Cecil Sharp haa this to say about the relationship of the ballads of England and Scotland; It haa been asked: How d1d the English Ballad, as literature, compare with the Scottish Ballad? Many writers Mr. Andrew Lang for example, plump unhesitatingly for Scotland. But then they take the traditional poetry of England, as it now exists and contrast it with the Scottish ballad of a hundred years ago. This besides being grievously unjust to England is very bad criticism. Moreover, such critics forget, or they do not know, that a large number of so-oalled Soottish songs are still being sung-- in corrupt and incomplete form, no doubt and presumably have for many century been sung by the peasantry of the
-----------------
24 Joyce. Ancient Irish Music. 79.
25 William Motherwell, Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern. Glasgow 1827, XXXIX
__________________________________________
south of England.... Now if this fact be held in mind, instead of contrasting the ballad literatures ot the two countries, would it not be more reasonable to ascribe to them a common origin. Many collectors of English folksongs will, I think, agree with me when I say that it is not a question of superiority or inferiority, but rather one of identity. I suggest that the Scottish Ballad (I am not of course referring to the Highland Gaelic Ballad, but the Ihwle.nd Soottish Song to be found in the collections of Sir Walter Soott, Motherwell, Buchan and others), no other than the inSll.8h Ballad in northern dress, that it orossed the border together with the English language of which it was part and parcel, that it took root there and is now mistaken for an indigenous product.[26]
Sharp includes *Barbara Ellen" in the list of these "Scotch" English ballads.[27]
A comparison of these texts will show how closely they follow the same pattern. Since Child has used these two texts [Ramsay's and the Roxburghe ballad] as his A and B text. respectively, I am using these letters to designate the texts 1n the follow1ng comparative skeleton of these ballads.
It was in and about the Martinmas t!me, [A]
All in the merry month of May, [B]
When green leaves were a falling [A]
they were springing [B]
-----------------
26 C [eoil] J [ames] S [harp] , Folk Songs Noted in Somerset and North Devon,Journal of the Folk-Song Society London, It, 1905, 3.
27 Ibid.
_________________________________________
Sir John Graham... [A]
This young man... [B]
Fell in with Barbara Allan. [A]
For the love of Barbara Allen.[B]
dow11 through the town
Hfl Bent his man
. unto her then
To the place where she was dwelling
To the town where she was dwelling
Haate and
eo.. to my maater dea.r
You must
Gin .,.
be Barbara
It your name
o hooly, hooly. 1'0'. she
Allan.
411en.
up
So slowly, slowly, she got
. . . . . . .
Young man I think you're dyin [A]
Young man I think you are dying [B]
Be turned his face unto the wall [A & B]
And death was with him dealing [A]
And death came creeping to him [B]
Adieu, adieu my dear friends all [A]
Thne adieu, adieu all and adieu to all [B]
And be kind Barbara Allan. [A]
And adieu to Barbara Allen. [B]
_______________________________________
She had not gone a mile but twa
And as she was walking on a day
When she heard the dead bell ring1ng,
she heard the bell ringing,
And every jow that the dead-bell geid
And it did seem to ring to her
It cried woe to Barbara Allan.
Unworthy Barbara Allen
. . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .
o Mother, Mother, make my bed [A & B]
I'll die for him tomorrow [A]
For his death has quite undone me [B]
Unmistakably, there is enough similarity of phrasing to warrant the conclusion that these texts have a common source. Chappell says that David Herd, in publishing the "Scotch" version in 1776, does not claim antiquity for this version, and that the Scottish version is "closely built upon the English ballad."[28]
There remains only one obstacle to the acceptance of the priority of the "English" printed version of the ballad. How can we account for the fact that the earliest printed reference to "Barbara Allen" clearly designated it as a "little Scotch
song?"[29]
----------------
28 Chappell J R2JburMe Ba.;tj.a<t!h 433.
29 Pepys, P ~. J V, 175.
_______________________________________________
In his preface to the Roxburghe version of the ballad Chappell gives this explanation:
We have here a contemporary [of Pepys] copy, and it proves to be one of that numerous class of songs and ballads which before the union of crowns had been called "Northern"--a polite substItute for "rustic"--and which under our Scottish kings were gradually denominated "Scotch." The change may be said to have commenced after Charles II had been crowned King of Scots, the loyalists of the two countries being then brought together, John Playfort, the publisher, was perhaps the last to use the word Northern, in this sense and his "Northern Bonge" were afterwards reprinted as "Scotch."[30]
If Chappell is correct in his statement about the use of the term "Scotoh" it can explain Pepys' meaning of the word as he used it in 1666. Chappell believes, however, that the Roxburghe text is a corruption of the song heard by Pepys, for he states, "Mrs. Knipp's ballad seems to bave been written down from memory by some illiterate listener, and very corruptly."[31] He thinks Bishop Percy's black letter copy may have been a true one,[32] but there is evidence that this was published after 1730.[33]
----------------------
30 Chappell. Roxburghe Ballads, 433.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
33 Frank Kidson, "The Ballad Sheet and Garland," Journal of the Folk-Song Society, II, 1905, 75.
_________________________________________
If contemporary opinion of James Oswald, the remarks of such competent authorities as Hustvedt and Sharp, and the absence of any trace of the existence of the "Scotch" ballad before 1740, is not oonvincing eVidenoe of the non-traditional character of this text, an examination of the style of the ballad itself, may oomplete the evidence. It has always seemed to me too smooth and flawless to be the product of unaided tradition. The unnecessary repetition of stanza seven and eight of the Roxburghe version have been omitted. Notice too, that the title of Ramsay's ballad is "Bonny Barbara Allan" although the phrase is not used within the text. The Roxburghe ballad does contain this phrase in stanza five.
Then little better shall he be
For bonny Barbara Allen.
There seems l1ttle doubt that this text is a literary reworking of an Engl1sh version, whether that be the Roxburghe text or some version based on another broadside or on oral tradition.
Percy's "Scotch" version, which he entitled. "Sir John Greme and Barbara Allen, A Scottish Ballad" is relatively unimportant in comparison with the other three texts, Although he claims to have printed this With a few "conjectural emendations from a written copy no trace of this written copy has been found and a comparison with Ramsay's text seems to indicate that
__________________________________
the "conjectural emendations" were made to the earlier printed version.
Percy's "English" version entitled like the earlier broadside, "Barbara Allen's Oruelty," is given with "some corrections from an old printed copy in the editor's possession entitled "Barbara Allen's Cruelty or The Young Man's Tragedy," Un1ike the Scotch manuscript which Percy claims as his source for the "Scotch" version, a broadside by this title whioh was once possessed by Percy is in the collection of the Harvard College Library. This copy bears the imprint "printed and sold at the Bow Church Yard in London."[34] William Dicey followed John Cluer at this address in Cheapside about 1730 and this is the imprint the ballads then bore.[35]
An examinat1on of the text at the end of this chapter will show phrases that Percy introduced into subsequent history of the ballad. Some of the moat significant are:
Made Every youth cry wel-aways,
Green buds they were swellin'
Young Jemmye Grove
----------------
34 Harvard Broadside No. 2;245.36,
35 Frank Kidson, "The Ballad Sheet and Garland." 1905
______________________________________________
And o'er his heart is stealing
O lovely Barbara Allen
And slowly she came nigh him.
What needs the tale you are tellin'
When ye the cups were filian
As deadly pangs he tell in
As she was walking o'er the fields
She turned her body round about
Her cheeks with laughter "wallin'
Her heart was struok with sorrow
and the following stanzas:
She on her death-bed u she laye
Beg'd to be Buried by him;
And sore repented of the dye
That she did ere denye him.
Farewell she aayd ye vergins all,
And shun the fault I fell in,
Henceforth take warning by the fall
Of cruel Barbara Allen.
In 1825 Allen Cunningham[36] published a version which closely resembles Percy's "Scotoh" version except for the substitution of the line:
When the red wine ye were fillan
for Peroy's,
When ye the cups were fillan
--------------
36 Alan Cunningham, The Songs of Scotland 1825, 172-73.
________________________________________
In 1864 a hybrid version was published by William Allingham[37] in his Ballad Book. This nine stanza version seems to combine Peroy's "English" version and Cunningham'a version which can be Identified by the "red wine" line. This hybrid version has had a vogue in popular anthologies to the present, but seems to have little relationship with oral tradition. Percy's beginning was appended to this version in the Oxford Book English Verse first published in 1900.[38] The resultlng text of ten stanzas has been copied by many anthologists.
It is not possible to trace completely the history in print of any ballad because, as Kidson explains:
Folksongs seldom attained the dignity or inclusion in regular songbook, before the modern period of interest in their colleotion; their words only were printed. Without music, either in garland or on ballad sheet .. (otherwise broadside), the printers and publishers of these were almost invariably people who made a special business of this line of trade.[39]
This ephemeral material forms an important link in the history of this ballad. Morris is only stating the obvious when he says:
-------------
37 William Allingham, Ballad Book London. 1864,
38 Sir Arthur' thomas Quiller-Couch. Oxford Book of Ballads; London, 1900, 451.
39 Kidson, "the Ballad Sheet and Garland,· 70.
__________________________________________57__________________
Of material aid in keeping this song alive is probably a large number of copies of stall prints, broadsides, and songster reproductions of it from the beginning of the eighteenth century onward.[40]
London, according to Kidson, was the home of the ballad and garland printer before the middle of the eighteenth century.[41]
We have examined the ballad from the Roxburghe Collection published in the late seventeenth century, and the broadside formerly belonging to Percy which 1s probably typical of early eighteenth century texts.
Broadsides printed in the early eighteenth century are far scarcer than those printed in the late seventeenth century. Whether ballad printing slackened at this period, or whether broadsides have not been preserved. It is impossIble to determine. Many, too, were issued without names of printer or publisher.[42]
Later English broadsides, which have been examined for this thesis, are frequently copies of either Ramsay's "Scotoh" version or Percy, a "English" version. Ramsay's is the ultimate
----------
40 Morris, Folksongs of Florida 428
41 Kidson The Ballad and Sheet Garland 75
42 Ibid
_________________________________________58______________
source of a broadside bearing no imprint[43] which K1ttredge[44] believes is probably one of Cadmaan's, and an identical text bearing the imprint, "Debington Printer, 26 Goulden .St., Oldham Rond. Manchester, sold by J. Beaumont, 176 York Street Leds.[45]
A version similar to Percy's but substituting the name "Read1ng" for "Scarlet" bears the imprint of "J Catnach, printer, 2 Monmouth Court, 7 Dials" [46]. The same version was printed by Henry Such, Printer and Publisher/ 123 Union Street, Boro' S.E. [47]
James Catnach was printing 1n London between 1813 And 1838. Henry Parker Such did not turn to newsvending until 1849. A great many Such ballad sheets bear the above address.[48] Bebblngton was printing in Manchester in the nineteenth century but later than 1820.[49]
-------
43 Harvard Broadside No. 25242.17, V, 112.
44· George Lyman Kit tredge, "Ballads and Songs," Journal of Ameican Folklore. Philadelphia, XXX, July-September, 1917. 317.
45 Harvard Broadside. No. 25242.17, IX, 201.
46 Ibid, v. 163.
47 Ibid .. XII, 53.
48 Kidson, "The Ballad and Garland Sheet. " 78
49 Ibid
_____________________________________________59___________
Undoubtedly this is but a samplIng of the copies circulated in this ephemeral form in England.
William Allingham. who published what he considered a "selection of the choicest British Ballads" in 1865, states that he has also a large collection of ballads hawked by ballad singers throughout Ireland and that only two of the old ballads are still in the market in Seven Dials .... -this usual vepslon of "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" and a "very corrupt version of Barbara Allen" beginning,
In Reading town where I was born
A fair maid there was dwelling.[50]
This text may be the Catnach ballad referred to above, which was published in "7 Dials."
Although Allingham claims to have used Ramsay's version, his text is actually that hybrid version discussed above.
In America, the earliest extant printing of the ballad is a broadside publIshed in Philadelphia about 1820. This bears the imprint, "Sold wholesale at the corner of Market and Decatur Street." [51] Maps of Phlladelphia[52] show Decatur Street 1nterseot-
-----------
50 Allingham, The ballad Book XXVII.
51 Harvard Broadside, No. 25276.43.81.
52 John Adams Paxton; The Stranger's Guide
Philadelphia, 1810. Philadelphia in 1824.
____________________________________________60_______________
-ing with High or Market Street. The date is given by Kittredge.[53]
The text of this early American broadside is Peroy's "English" version. The first American book in which the ballad was printed in The American Songster, Baltimore. 1836. This, also, is Percy's text, Other reprintings of this text and of Ramsay's text w1ll be found in the bibliography, An eighteen stanza version beginning "It fell about the Martinmas day" was first published in the Pearl Songster, New York, 1846. This text was printed in several American songbooks within the follow1ng decades. It is identifiable by its second stanza, beginning, "She was a fair and comely maid," and by the offer to make "you mistress" of "yon seven ships." These songbooks probably had a wide ciroulatlon in the North and Middle West in the mid-nineteenth century for several traditional versions of the ballad, whioh closely follow this text, have been recorded in these areas.[54]
Neely reports a southern Illinois variant whioh was ultimately derived trom a broadside,[55] From the examination of available printed texts of this ballad, and the commente on these texts by publishers and
-------------
53 Kittredge. "Ballads and Songs."
54 See Chapter IV for a discussion of the relationship
between printed texts and tradition.
55 Ibid.
_________________________________________61______________
critics, we may conclude that the ballad by this title was well enough known in the Rostoration period that the direction, "To the
Tune of Barbara Allen" was meaningful to the average Londoner; that the English version has a longer history in print; that the "Scotch" text is probably a l1terary reworking of an English text, perhaps by James Oswald.
I here append the texts of "Barbara Allen" which have a significant history in print.
"Barbara Allen's Cruelty"[56]
In Scarlet town, where I was bound.
There was a fair maid dwelling.
Whom I had chosen to be my own,
And her name was Barbara Allen.
All in the merry month of May,
When green leaves they was springing,
!hie young man on his death-bed lay,
For the love of Barbara Allen.
He sent his man unto her then.
To the town where she was dwelling:
"You must come to my master dear,
It your name be Barbara Allen. "
"For death is printed in his face
And sorrow's in him dwelling,
And you must come to my master dear,
If your name be Barbara Allen. "
"If death be printed in his face,
And sorrow B in him dwelling,
Then little better shall he be
For bonny Barbara Allen."
-------------
56 Roxburghe Ballads. II, 25. Here copied from Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittredge] English and Scottish Popular Ballads Boston. [1932], 85.
_____________________________
So slowly, slowly she got up,
And so slowly she came to him.
And all she said when she came there,
Young man, I think you are a dying.
He turned his face unto her then;
"If you be Barbara Allen,
My dear," said he, "come pity me,
As on my death-bed I am lying.
"If on your death-bed you be lying,
What is that to Barbara Allen?
I cannot keep you from your death;
So farewell," said Barbara Allen.
He turned his face unto the wall,
And death came creeping to him:
"Then adieu, ad1eu, and adieu to all,
And adieu to Barbara Allen."
And as she 'Was walking on a day.
She heard the bell a ringing,
And it did seem to ring to her
"Unworthy Barbara Allen."
She turned herself round about,
And she spy'd the corps a coming.
"Lay down, lay down the corps of clay,
That I may look upon him."
And all the while she looked on,
So loudly she lay laughing.
While all her friends cry's out amain.
"Unworthy Barbara Allen!"
When he was dead, and laid in grave,
Then death came creeping to she:
"O mother, mother, make my bed,
For his death hath quite undone me.
"A hard-hearted creature that I was,
To slight one that lovd me so dearly;
I wish I had been more kinder to him,
The time of his life when he was near me."
_______________________________
So this maid she then did dye,
And desired to be burled by him,
And repented herself before she dy'd
That ever she did deny him.
"Bonny Barbara Allan"[57]
It was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the green leaves were a falling,
That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country,
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
He sent his man down through the town,
To the place where she was dwelling:
"O haste and come to my master dear,
Gin ye be Barbara Allan."
O hooly, hooly rose she up,
To the place where he was lying.
And when she drew the curtain by,
"Young man, I think you're dying."
"O it's I'm sick, and very, very sick,
And 'tis a' for Barbara Allan
"O the better for me ye's never be.
Tho your heart's blood were a spilling.
"0 dinna ye mind, young man," said she
"When ye was in the tavern a drinking,
That ye made the healths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?"
He turned his faoe unto the wall.
And death was with him dealing:
"Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all,
And be kind to Barbara Allan."
And slowly, slowly raise she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing said, she could not stay.
Since death of life had reft him.
---------------
57 Alan Ramsay, The Tea Table Miscellany; London 1740, 46.
_____________________________________________
She had not gane a mile but twa,
When she heard the dead-bell ringing
And every Jaw that the dead-bell geld,
It cry'd Woe to Barbara Allan.
"O mother, mother, make my bed,
O make it saft and narrow,
Since my love died tor me to-day,
I'll die for him to-morrow.
"Barbara Allen's Cruelty"
Given with some corrections from an old black letter copy entitled, "Barbara Allen's Cruelty or the Young man's tragedy. "[58]
In Scarlet town, where 1 vas borne,
There was a tatra maid dwellin,
Made ever,. youth crye wel-away.'
Her name va. Barba.ra Allen.
All In thEt merr1. montb of May
When greene bud. they were lSW'ell1n.
Young Jemmye Grove on hie death-bed lay,
For love ot Barbara. Allen.
He sent hie man unto her then,
To the town where ehe was dwell1n;
,t You must cOIl.e to JIll master dear,
Girf your name be Barbara Allen.
"For death 1s printed on hi. face,
And ore his hart is stealin;
Then haste away to comfort him,
O lovlye Barbara Allen."
"Though death be printed on his face,
And ore his harte is stealin'
Yet little better shall he bee
For bonny Barbara Allen."
---------------
58 Percy, Reliques, 189-190, 1765. from London edition 1889.
__________________________
So slowly,slowly she came up
And slowly she oame nye him;
And all she said when there she came,
"Young m8Xl, I think ylare dying."
He turned his face unto her stral t.
With deadlye sorrow sighing:
"O lovely maid. come pity mee,
Ime on my death-bed lying. "
"If on your death-bed you doe lye,
What needs the tale you aNI t.ell1n?
I cannot keef. you trom your death;
Farewell,. 1 said Barbara. Allen.
He turned hi $ ta.oe unt 0 the wall,
Ae deadly. pangs he fell inl
" Adieu! Adieu! Adieu! to you all,
Adieu to Barbara All.n."
As ahe was walking ore the fields.
She beard the bell a knellln:
And every stroke did seem to saye,
"Unworthy_ Barbara Allen."
She turned her bOdy. round about,
And spied the corps a ooming.
"Laye down. lay. clown the corps, r, ahe ss-yd,
•• That I may look u.pon him."
With soorntul eye she looked downe,
Her oheeke wlth laughter avellln:
Wl111st all her friends oried out amaine,
"Unworthye Barhara Allen"·
When he was dead. and laid in grave.
Her harte W~$ struck with sorrowe;
Ito mother, mother make my bed ..
For I ahall dye tomorrow..
~Hard-hart.d creature him to al1ght,
Who loved me 80 dee,rlyet
o that I had beene more kln<i to him
When he was all ve and neare me."
_______________________________________66___________
She on her death-bed. as she laye
Beg'd to be buried by him,
And flore repented of the daye
That she did ere denye him,
"Farewell," she said, "ye virgins all,
And, shun the tault I tell in:
Henceforth take warning by the fall
Of cruel Barbara Allen."
"Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allan
A Scottish Ballad
Printed, with a few conjectural emendations, from a written copy,"[59]
It was in and about the Martinmas tIme,
When the greene leaves were a fallan,
ThatSl:r John Grehme 0' the wemt oountrye
Fell in luve wi' Barbara Allan.
He sent his man down throw the towne,
To the plaioe wher she was dwellan,
"O haste and cum to my master deare.
Gin ye bin Barbara Allan."
O hooly, hooly raise she up,
To the plaice wher she was lyan:
And whan she drew the curtain by,
"Young man. I think ye're dyan."
"0 its I'm sick, and very, very sick,
And its a' for Barbara Allan."
"0 the better for me ye'se never be,
Though your harts blude were spillan.
"Remember ye nat in the tavern, sir,
Whan ye the cups were fillan.
How ye made the hea1ths gae round and round,
And slighted Barbara Allan?"
-----------
59 Percy, Reliques, 193-194. Here copied from the London edition of 1889.
_____________________________________________67_________
He turn'd his face unto the wa'
And death was with him dealan,
"Adiew' adiew, my dear friends;
Be kind to Barbara Allan."
Then hooly, hooly rise she up,
And hooly, hooly left him,
And sighan said she could not stay.
Since death of life bed reft him.
She had not gane a mile but twa,
When she heard the deid-bell knellan;
And everye jow the deid-bell geld,
Cried, "Wae to Barbara Allan!"
"0 mither, mlther, mat my bed, .
O mak it saft and narrow,
Since my love died for me to-day,
I'se die for him tomorrow."
"Barbara Allan"[60]
It fell about the Martinmas day
When the green leaves were falllng,
Sir James the Graham in the west country.
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.
She was a fair and comely maid
And a maid nigh to his dwelling,
Which made him to admire the more,
The beauty of Barbara Allan.
O what's thy name my bonny maid,
Or where hast thou thy dwelling,
She answered him most modestly,
My name is Barbara Allan.
O see you not yon seven ships,
So bonny as they are sailing,
I'll make you mistress of them all,
My bonny Barbara Allan.
---------
60 The Pearl Songster NY, 1846, 104-105
______________________________________________68__________
But it fell out upon a day,
At the wine as they were drinking,
They toasted their glasses around about,
And slighted Barbara Allan.
O she has taken't so ill out,
That she'd no more look on him.
And for all the letters he could send,
Still swore she'd never have him.
O if I had a man, a man,
A man within my dwelling,
That will write a letter with my blood,
And carry't to Barbara Allan.
Desire her to come here with speed,
For I am at the dying.
And speak one word to her true love,
For I'll die for Barbara Allan.
His man is off with all his speed,
To the place where she is dwelling,
Here's a letter from my master dear,
Gin ye be Barbara Allan.
O when she looked the letter upon,
With a loud laughter gi'd she,
But e'er she read the letter through,
The tear blinded her eye.
O hooly, hooly, rose she up,
And slowly gaed she to him,
And slightly drew the curtains by,
Young man I think you're dying.
O I am sick, and very sick,
And my heart is at the breaking,
One kiss or two of thy sweet mouth,
Would keep me from the dying.
O mind you not young man, said she,
When you sat in the tavern,
Then you made the health go round,
And slighted Barbara Allan.
_________________________________________69_____________
And slowly, slowly, rose she up,
And slowly, slowly left him,
And sighing said she could not stay,
Since death of life had reft him.
She had not gone a mile from the town,
Till she heard the dead bell knelling,
And every knell that dead bell gave,
Was wo to Barbara Allan.
Now when the virgin heard the same,
Sure she was greatly troubled,
When in the coffin his corpe she view'd,
Her sorrows all were doubled.
What! hast though died for me, she cried.
Let all true lovers shun me,
Too late I may this sadly say,
That death has quite undone me.
O, mother, mother make my bed,
O make it soft and narrow,
Since my love died for me to-day,
I'll die for him to-morrow.
_____________________________________________70___________
CHAPTER IV
THE VARIANTS OF "BARBARA ALLEN"
In the study or this ballad there is too much overlapping of traits to warrant a systematic classification of the many texts on the basis of story traits. It is more useful for the purpose of this study to point out the texts whioh ate related to print and having isolated three, to examine the bulk of material which remains; more evidence of its traditional charaoter.
It is inevitable that the numerous printed texts of the ballad should have influenced the ballad in tradition. The alleged dichotomy or "Scotch" and "English" texts of this ballad was discussed in the chapter on the ballad in print. We noted that the "Scotch" version, firat printed by Ramsay in 1740, has been printed in anthologies more than any other version except Percy's "English" version. Let us now examine the relationship between this text and the ballad in tradition.
Seven almost identical texts have been recorded in the United States and Nova Scotia, which are Ramsay's text almost
verbatim. These texts have been found in Nova Scotia (Fauset), Maine (Barry B), Mississippi (Hudson E), Arkansas (Randolph H)
_________________________________________71_____________________
and South [sic] Carolina (Brown Z, AA, BB, CC). [Brown texts are from North Carolina]
It is not surprising to find these texts in the south where the ballad was printed in songbook in Richmond in 1845.[1] A broadside using this text was published in New York as late as 1880.[2]
Another group of text with an autumn setting is related to the text pub11shed in the Pearl Songster in 1846, and in various editions of the Forget-Me-Not Songster.[3]
William Larkin, who began a personal collection of "the best songs he knew" 1n 1866, copied this eighteen stanza version of' Barbara Allen, probably from one of these songsters.[4] Davis collected a text of this type (Davis R) in Virginia in 1920.
The singer had learned it from her mother seventy years earlier and volunteered the informatIon that her grandfather, who came from Ireland about 1800, had sung the song. This text (Davis R) is fifteen stanzas long and has several modifications which
--------------
1 See bibliography for a listing of these sources.
2 Henry J. Wehman. "Barbara Allan." Harvard. Broadside No. 25241.29.
3 See bibliography.
4 Musick, "Old Album of William Larkin."
________________________________________72_____________________
show that it has passed through tradition.
The line:
She has taken it so ill out,
has been altered to:
She has taken so allow.
The seventh stanza is:
He turned his back then to the wall
His eyes then to the ocean,
And all the words that he did say,
"Farewell to Barbara Allen."
Other texts of this type have been collected in Virginia (Davia O,R), Missouri (Belden A). Nova Scotia (MacKenzie A), Washington (Adventure [C] ), and Kentucky (Kittredge). One fragment (Davis EE) is the only text with a spring beginning which includes the stanza beginning, "She was a fair and comely maid."
Another text of nine stanzas with an autumn setting (Shoemaker B) comes from Pennsylvania where it can be traced back to about 1850. It is the only traditional text examined for this study, in which the tavern scene included the line:
When you the cups were fillin'
The presence of this line indicates that the text is derived from Percy's "'Sootch" text rather than from Ramsay's. It is natural to expect to find this song in tradition
_____________________________________________73__________
in Scotland. Greig published a fifteen stanza text[5] which is Ramsay's, almost verbatim, exoept for three very neat insertions of one, two, and three stanzas, which show "Bawbie" as vindictive. List bequests to "Bawbie," of a watoh, prayer book and napkin full "O my heart's blood," and report a conversation between "Bawbie" and her relatives in whioh ahe implies that they are guilty of the tragedy.
After stanza five of Ramsay's version:
"A kiss of you culd do me good.
My bonnie Bawbie Allan."
But a kiss lie you sanna get,
Though your heart's blood were a-spillin."
After stanza six of Ramsay's versions:
"Put in your han' at my bedside,
An' there ye'll find a warran,
Wi' my gold watch an' my prayer book,
Gie that to Bawbie Allan.
"Put in your hand at my bedside,
An' there ye'll find a warran
It napkin full O my heart's blood
Gie that to Bawbie Allan."
Between stanzas eight and nine of Ramsay's:
In then cam her rather dear,
Said, "Bonnie Bawbie, tak hlm."
It's time to bid me tat him noo
When ye know his coffin's makin."
--------------
5. Gavin Grieg, Last Leaves; 1925
_____________________________________________74______________
In then own her brother dear,
Said, "Bonnle Baw-bie, tak him
It's time to bid me tak him noo
When his grave-cloes is a-makin."
Then in cam her sisters dear,
Said, "Bonnie Bawbie, tak him,"
"It's time to bid me tak him noo,
When my heart it is a-brakin."
It is reasonable to assume that this lengthening of Ramsay's ballad is the work of some hack writer who made these alterations for a stall print. Tradition does not deal with material in this way. Greig describes three other texts which he does not print in his collection. Only one of these (Greig B) has an autumn beginning. However he says that both his B and C texts are similar to A but shorter. The fourth text (Greig D) is merely Percy's text shortened to eight stanzas.[6]
Ord's collection of Scotch ballads, published in Aberdeen in 1930, contains a frankly collated text called "Barbara Allan" which examination reveals to be Percy's "Scotoh" text with two stanzas inserted which contain a bequest to Barbara and the direction to find a bloody shirt,
That was bled for Barbara Allan.[7]
--------------
6 Greig; Last Leaves, 257.
7 John Ord The Bothy Songs and Ballads of Aberdeen; Aberdeen, 1930, 476.
__________________________________________75______
There are, besides these texts which are obviously from printed versions, just six texts which begin with the autumn setting. Three of these are from North Carollna (Brown Z, AA, DD), two from Virginia. (Davia G, BB), and one from Georgia (Morris A). These texts show some relationship with other traditional texts which have a spring setting. Three of these (Brown Z, AA, and Davis G) are obviously related texts, Brown Z begins.
It was the fall season of the year
The yellow leaves Were falling.
Sweet William he was taken sick
For the love of Barbara Ellen.
The name is "Barbara Allan" in Davis G.
All three texts have Barbara, a reproach, and William's justification is in Davis G and Brown AA. In Davis G the insult occurs in "yonders town," and in Brown A it is "last Tuesday night." Both phrases occur in other texts. The curtain around the bed is retained from Ramsay's or is superimposed. Barbara weeps when she sees the corpse. In Brown Z and AA, Barbara. asks her rather to dig her grave and all end with the rose-brier motif.
Brown DD is deseribed by Hudson as "a full normal text with autumn setting." It has thirteen stanzas and the girl is "Barbara Ellen." The remaining text (Davis BB) haa some interesting variations but it is obviously contaminated by Percy's "English"
__________________________
version. It begins:
'Twas late-lie, late-lie in the fall,
'Twas when the leaves were dying,
That Johnny from the back countree
Fall in love with Barbara Allen.
And oh, he hired a little boy
To run for him an errand,
To run for him to strawberry town
To fetch him Barbara Allen.
Some of the text has probably been lost, for the bells and meeting with the corpse are missing, but there is a stanza which suggests this situation:
The more she looked the more she laughed
The farther she went from him;
And all her friends cried out, "For shame;
Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
It ends with the familiar rose-brier motif which the editor says is sometimes used with "Lord Lovell."
Peroy's English version with the setting in "Scarlet Town," was the first version printed in Amerlca. The printed copies of this version have obviously influenced tradition whether tbe singers who already knew the ballad adopted lines from the printed version, or whether the ballad was disseminated in this form. From tradition, twenty-two copies which are identical with Percy's in all essentials have been recorded.
These all begin with Percy's opening stanza, lack the accusation, specify that Barbara laughed at the corpse and end with the warning to all virgins to "shun the fault I fell in." In most
__________________________________77__________________
of these the man's name is some variation of Jemmy Grove. This version has been found in Virginia (Davis A, Scarborough A, D), West Virginia (Cox A). North Carolina (Brown A, B. D), South Carolina (Smith A, Millican). Mississippi (Hudson F, G, H),
Tennessee (Perry, Colb), Iowa. (Stout A, B), Indiana (Brewster C, E, I Neal), Missouri (Belden B, Ranndolph M). Pennsylvania, (Eddy C, Shoemaker I). Eddy C is the only one of this group in which the young man is "Sweet William." It This includes also, the extra stanza common to other types of the ballad:
It was all in the month of June
When all things they were blooming.
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
The death bells are lacking in Perry, Hudson F and G, and Scarborough D are six stanza versions, obviously Percy's
abbreviated, and may owe their start to one of the shorter printed adaptations from a popular songbook. Scarborough C is essentially Percy's text with the insertion of the acousation end justification stanzas and the rose-brier conclusion.
The version of Shoemaker, although obviously from Percy, begins:
In Reading town. when I was young,
Which may reflect association with Reading, Pennsylvania rather than the influence of one of the broadsides which have Reading
________________________________________78_______________
Town for a setting.
In Millican's text the usual eleventh and twelfth stanzas are telescoped in such a way that the laughter is omitted:
She turned her body round about,
And spied the corpse a-coming,
While all her friends cried out amain:
"Unworthy Barbara Allen."
This version has the addition of the rose-brier stanza common to other types of the ballad:
Out of his grave sprang a rose-bush
And out of hers a briar,
They grew and wrapped in a true love-knot,
The rose wrapped round the briar.
Barry reports an eight stanza version trom Maine which has retained the essentials of Percy's but not the exact form. The singer was not sure whether Scarlet or Charlotte Town was the form sung by her mother. In this version it is the tolling of the bells which bring on the fit ot laughter and Barbara laugh again in the following stanza:
She turned about to get her breath
And spied the funeral coming:
She laughed to see him pale in death,
O cruel Barbara Allen. (Barry A)
The concluding warning has a deepened meaning in:
"Now maidens all a warning take,
And shun the ways I fell in.
Or else your heart like mine may break,
"Farewell!" said Barbara Allen. (Barry A)
__________________________________________79________________
Another Virginia variant (Davis N) shows the influence of Percy by the lines:
The green buds they were swelling
. . . . . . . .
Made every youth to weal or woe,
But the name of the young man is Jimmy Grame. This version of eleven stanzas has Barbara's laughter, lacks the accusation, but has one stanza which may be a corruption of the toast drinking:
He sent his man unto her then,
Unto the tavern where she was dwelling.
"You must go to my master dear,
If your name be Barbara Allen." (Davis N)
and ends with a stanza nearer to the Roxburghe ballad:
When on her death-bed she did lay,
She begged to be buried by him.
And sore repented of the day
That ever she did deny him. (Davie N)
Percy's version has even penetrated Sootland where one of four traditional texts reported by Greig is an eight stanza
abbreviation of Percy's ballad, ending with the warning to all virgins (Greig D).
Another group of variants which begins by naming the setting include the accusation by Barbara that the young man has
slighted her. A few of these seem to be strongly influenced by Percy. Most texts of this type have the setting in Scarlet Town,
___________________________________________80_____________
add a stanza of accusing birds to the accusing bells, show Barbara bursting into tears rather than laughter at the sight of
the corpse, and end with the rose-brier motif. These include an additional stanza:
"O father, O Father, go dig my grave;
Go dig it long and narrow,
Sweet William died for me today,
I'll die for him tomorrow."
This type includes the "month of June" stanza of Eddy C. The version just desoribed was fixed in southern Illinois by a broadside which was given to Nealy[8] for his collection and which had been in the family of Miss Catherine Kettler of New Baden for two or three generations. This version was also used by Bradley Kincaid in a series of radio broadcasts [Kincaid's recordings show he sang as different text] over station WLS beginning in 1926 and was printed by him in his collection of favorite mountain ballads.[9] The broadcasts may be responsible for the prevalence of this version in the area around 1936.
A typical ballad of this type was collected in Dale, Indiana, in 1936 (Brewster A):
--------------------
8 Oharles Neely and J. W. Spargo, Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois Kenosha, Wisconsin. 1938, 138.
9 Bradley Kincaid, Favorite Mountain Ballads, 1928, 14.
_____________________________________________81________
1. In Scarlet Town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwelling,
Made every youth cry "well away,"
And her name was Barbara Allen.
2. All in the merry month of May
When the green buds were swelling,
Sweet William came from the Western States
And courted Barbara Allen.
3. It was all in the month of June
When all the flowers were blooming,
Sweet William on his deathbed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
4. He sent his servant to the town
Where Barbara was a-dwelling:
"My master is sick and sends for you
If your name be Barbara Allen.
5. "And death is printed on his face,
And o'er his heart is stealing;
So hasten away to comfort him,
O lovely Barbara Allen!"
6. So slowly, slowly she got up,
And slowly she came nigh him;
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man, I think you're dying."
7. "O yes, I'm sick, and very sick,
And death is in me dwelling;
No better, no better I never can be
If I can't have Barbara Allen."
8. "O yes, you're sick, and very sick,
And death is in you dwelling;
No better, no better you never will be,
For you can't have Barbara Allen."
9. "O don't you remember in yonder town
When you were at the tavern,
You drank a health to the ladies all around
And slighted Barbara Allen?"
10. As she was on her highway home,
The birds they kept a-singing;
They sang so clear they seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
_______________________________________82_______________
11. As she was walking o'er the fields,
She heard the death-bell knelling;
And every stroke did seem to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
12. She looked to the east, she looked to the west;
She spied his corpse a-coming:
"Lay down, lay down that corpse of clay
That I may look upon him."
13. The more she looked the more she mourned,
Till she fell to the ground a-crying,
Saying, "Pick me up and carry me home,
For I am now a-dying."
14. "O Mother, O Mother, go make my bed;
Go make it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for pure, pure love,
And I shall die for sorrow.
15. "O Father, O Father, go dig my grave;
Go dig it long and narrow.
Sweet William died for me today;
I'll die for him tomorrow."
16. She was buried in the old churchyard,
And he was buried a-nigh her;
On William's grave there grew a red rose,
On Barbara's grew a briar.
17. They climbed to the top of the old church tower
Till they could go no higher,
And there they tied in a truelove knot,
The red rose and the briar.
Other related texts include Brewster, B, F, J, Thompson, Thomas [B]. Raine, Crabtree A, and Mason. One other Indiana version (Brewster D) is close to Percy but the corpse is not met by Barbara, she accuses him of slighting her in drinking;
"You remember on the other day
When you were all a-drinking,
You filled your glass and handed it around,
And you slighted Barbara Allen."
Barbara rides through town:
_________________________________83________________
She mounted on her milk-white steed
And she rode through town a-sailing,
And every house that she passed by
Said, "Woe unto Barbara Allen."
A stanza similar to Ramsay's concluding stanza is followed by the usual two stanza rose-brier ending.
Dorothy Scarborough has caught one in the southern mountains (Scarborough C) which is very close to Percy in all details, but adds Barbara's accusation and Jimmie's justification:
Recollect, recollect, recollect young man
When I boarded at your tavern,
You drank, you walked with the ladies round,
And you slighted Barbara Allen.
Oh, yes, Oh, yes, oh yes, oh, yes,
When you boarded at my tavern,
I made the health go round and round,
My love to Barbara Allen.
The two-stanza rose-brier ending is added after the warning to all virgins.
When these orally transmitted versions which show close relationship to one of the well known printed texts are discounted, the number of complete texts which show the vitality characteristic of tradition, is remarkable.
The following outline has been used in this study to tabulate all readily available texts whose source can be verified. Frankly collated texts, and those for which no source is given are not included in the tabulation although they will be found
__________________________________84_______________
listed in the bibliography. The place given is the place of the recording unless the singer gave a clue to an earlier locality.
The date assigned. is the date of the recording unless the singer or edltor gives an earlIer source. Fragments and texts for which only a description is given by their editors have been included whenever a source is given. for the added information they give about characteristics of the ballad in tradition.
KEY TO TABULATION OF TRADITIONAL TEXTS
A First person beginning with setting named
1 Scarlet Town
2 Reading Town
3 Scotland
4 Newbury
5 Honer
6 Stony Town
7 Over
8 Yonder (or Yonders)
9 Scarland
10 London
11 Away down south
12 Gordon town
13 In the town where I was born
14 Quelick town
15 Ireland
16 Upon a hill
17 Lexington
18 Story
19 Dark and Gloomy
20 Lonely
21 Limeriok
22 Charlotte
23 Totnes Town
Followed by one or more of the following detail:
a Percy's "Made Every Youth cry "Wel-awaye"·
b Whom I had chosen to be my own
c That's where I got my learnIng
d In was my dwell1ng
e Three maids were dwlling
f Maids dressed In red
g Two maids were dwelling
h Many maids were dwelling
i I fell in love with a pretty little girl
J I chose her out to be my own
k Dressed 1n every color
l Where I was bound
________________________________________85____________________
B Time of year is given as
1 Autumn
2 Spring
When a young man--
a Came from the west (or other point of the compass)
b On his deathbed lay
c To this country came
d Is sick and sends for you
e Courted a fair young maid
C An incremental stanza inserted which begins in the month of June
(subdivided as "B" above)
D The young man courted Barbara
1 For seven years
2 For months and years
3 Six years
4 In summer and in winter
5 Six months or more
6 A very long time
7 For weeks and months
E Barbara is sent tor
1 By servant
2 By letter
3 By no specified method-- is merely requested to come
4 By servants (plural)
5 By a "boy"
6 By a nephew
7 By cousins
A stanza equivalent to stanzas in printed versions beginning
"Death is printed on his face" followed by
1 Percy's text
"And o'er his heart is stealing"
a "Then haste away to comfort him"
b "And none the better will he be
____________________________________________86________
2 Roxburghe text,
"And sorrow's in him dwelling,"
G Barbara goes to the young man, in stanza. beginning:
1 Slowly she put on her clothes (usual English text)
2 Slowly rose she up (usual American text)
3 (She goes in haste)
4 Slowly she fixed up
5 (Other beg1nnings)
H Young man responds to statement that he is dying by
1 Acknowledging that he will die it he can't have Barbara
2 Saying, "A dying man 0 don't say so."
3 Trying to draw her to him
4 Asking for a kiss
I Barbara refuses young man
1 Refuses kiss
2 Says she would gladly kill him w1th a kiss
3 Merely refuses him
J Young man turns to the wall and
1 Death came creeping to him, or was In him dwelling
2 Turned his baok upon her
3 Burst out crying
4 She turned her baok upon him
5 With deadly sorrow sighing
6 His nose gushed out a bleeding
He speaks his last words which are,
a Adieu (farewell or goodbye) Barbara. Allen
b Be kind to Barbara. Allen
e Woe to Barbara Allen
d Hard Hearted Barbara. Allen
Barbara accuses young man of slighting her
1 In drinking
2 In dancing
3 In another way
_______________________________________87_______________
L Young man reacts to accusation by
1 Defendlng himself
2 Acknowledging his guilt
M Barbara leaves the dying man
1 Slowly
2 Riding away
3 With no mention of details
4. By descending stairs
N Young man makes bequest to Barbara of
1 Valuables
2 Blood
3 Tears
4 Money
O Barbara is admonished by
1 Birds
2 Bells
3 Nothing--merely bears bells
4 Every tongue
5 Young men
6 Her own heart
P Barbara sees funeral procession as she
1 Looks to the east and west
2 Walked out upon a day
3 Looked back
4 Looked to the south
5 Turned her body round about
6 (Others)
She reacts to meeting with corpse by
1 Weeping
2 Laughing or smiling
3 Merely gazing
4 Kissing the corpse
5 Asking that he be taken away
6 Making a long speech and fainting
______________________________________88_____________
R Barbara blames another for the tragedy
1 Mother
2 Father
3 Others
S Mother dies also
T Barbara requests
1 Mother to make her bed
2 Father to dig her grave
3 Bur1al, does not specify person
4 Nothing, merely states that she will die
5 Mother to dig grave
U Ballad ends with rose-brler stanzas ln whioh
1 Rose grows from h1s grave, brier from his
2 Rose grows from her grave, brier from his
3 Dove and sparrow replace rose and brier
4 Rose grows from one grave, brier from the other, not specified which
5 Rose grows from both graves
6 Leaf is substituted for rose
V Name of heroine is Barbara or some derivative of Barbara
1 Allen or Allan
2 Ellen
W Number of stanzas In text or fragment given
1 One stanza
2 Two stanzas
Etc.
A hyphen with a number or letter indicates a characteristic telescoped with another stanza.
A hyphen standing alone indicates that informat1on about the charaoteristic is lacking.
x indicates a detail not listed in outline.
* indicates characteristic present,
A period stands in the column to indicate a characteristic not present in the text.
__________________________________________89__________________________
[charts missing p. 90-97; need to be printed scanned]
___________________________________________97_____________________
Of the sixty texts with a first person beginning, only thirteen have the setting in "Scarlet Town." In most of the complete texts the second stanza mentions spring and a young man lying on his deathbed for love of Barbara Allen. Sometimes the young man's origin is mentioned. In this case he is usually from the west, or, in the United States, from the Western states. In ten texts the month of June is mentioned in an added stanza. Tbe length of oourtship is mentioned in twenty-two texts. The longest period of courtship is "seven years," found in eleven texts, the shortest period is "weeks and months" (Smith E, C, Brown F, Y) and "six months and more" (Davis T).
In all complete texts Barbara is sent for, usually by servant, but in fourteen texts by letter or the method of sending is not speoified. In two texts both letter and a servant are employed.
The stanza based on Percy's "Death is printed on his face," is found thirteen times--mostly in the Middle West where, it has been noticed. Percy's text has persisted in tradition.
When she is summoned. Barbara goes "slowly" in nearly all texts. In only five does she go in any kind of haste.
Apparently the earliest recorded text which is known to be from traditlon is Child C. This text from Motherwell's manusoript was reoorded on February 9, 1825, from the singing of
__________________________________________98___________
Mrs. Duff of Kilburnie.
Child thought this text was perhaps derived from Ramsay, but he conceded that it may have come down from purely oral tradition.[10]
Motherwell did not consider it important enough to include in his printed collection. This is the version which is extended to forty-one stanzas in Buchan's Mss, I, 90, and Motherwell's Ms, 671. Child refused to admit this amplified text to his collection, but he says this is the ballad referred to by Charles KIrkpatrick Sharpe in Stenhouse's edition of the museum, IV. *300. [11]
Although this text has a simple beauty in many of its lines, a jarring note is added by the wooer from the west, who frankly admits he intends to marry Barbara for her money, remarks:
It is not for your bonny face,
Nor for your beauty bonny
But it is all for your tocher good,
I come so far about ye. (Child C)
------------------------
10 Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads 1I,276.
11 Ibid. See chapter II for Stenhouse's response.
_____________________________________________99_____________
If it be not for my comely face,
Nor for my beauty bonny,
My tocher good yetll never get paid
Down on the board before ye.
Barbara always goes to the dying lover and tells him his condition. Usually he acknowledges his condition stating that it is due to Barbara Allen's refusal. Sometimes he asks a kiss. Barbara always refuses in an incremental stanza, or, if this atanza is missing, the refusal is implied by subsequent events. The stanza in which he turns to the wall and bids farewell to all is usually present and his last words are more frequently a blessing (Be kind to Barbara Allen) than a curse (Woe to Barbara Allen). In many texts he merely bids her, adieu, farewell, or goodbye.
Barbara's accusation that she has been slighted, although not universal, is the rule rather than the exception in American texts. An incremental stanza in which the young man justifies himself by concluding that he gave his love to Barbara Allen is found more frequently than not. Rarely, he merely accepts the accusation.
The stanzas bequeathing valuable to Barbara are found in tradition in three English texts, six Mid-western texts, in only two Virginia texts, two Kentucky texts. and in three from New England. The bequest of a basin of blood or a napkin of blood is found more frequently, occurring in five English texts,
__________________________________________100_______________
one American text which is derived ultimately from Ireland, the two Virginia texts which have bequests of valuables, one Canadian text and all New England texts which have bequests of valuables. Money is the bequest in one text each in these states, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
Phillips Barry,[12] in discusslng the negro version from Brownville, Maine, traces the blood letting trait to Ireland on the basis of internal evidence. Davis T, a Cape-Breton Island text, hall its setting in Dublin, and two unpublished texts in the Vermont archives which have this trait are descended from Irish tradition.
It is logical to inquire into the meaning of this bequest of blood. Gerould believes that the blood is preserved for no sinister purpose but is "bequeathed by the man simply because it is somehow regarded as a symbol of his personality."[14]
--------------------------
12 P[hlll1ps] B [arry], note in Folk Song Society of the Northeast. Cambridge, Massschusetts, Bulletin No. 10, 1935, 23
13 Flanders Ballad Oollection, Middlebury College, M1ddlebury, Vermont. A letter from the Curator, Marguerite Olney,
Feb. 27, 1956, states that the collection is unavailable at present.
14 Gerould, The Ballad of Tradition, 155.
________________________________________101_______________
Barbara is usually admonished or warned by bells, or birds, or both, although the admonition may be given "by her own
heart."
The corpse is usually met with a request to "lay him down that I may look upon him. And, although her reaction in the texts closest to print is hysterical laughter, in tradition the almost universal reaction is weeping.
The crowd of his or her friends or relatives who accompany the corpse and, like a chorus in a Greek Tragedy, point their finger in scorn at Barbara, is almost entirely lacking as the texts become more completely traditional.
Barbara usually shoulders the blame for the tragedy, but in a few texts she blames her mother, both parents, or her
other kin. A more frequent addition is the stanza in which the mother also dies. A composite of various texts would probably be
something like this:
The young man died on Saturday night
Barbara died on Sunday.
The old lady died for the love of them both,
She died on Easter Monday.
The rose-brier motif, although not found associated with the early texts, or in print, has come to be an integral part of the ballad in tradition. It is found in four English texts and most Armerican versions. It may have been borrowed from the ballad of "Lord Lovell," but more probably "Fair Margaret and
_________________________________________102___________
Sweet William" is the ultimate source of the borrowing for the name William has been consistently substituted for the nameless young man in American tradition.
Child says of this ballad commonplace:
The idea of love-animated plants has been thought to be derived from the romance of Tristram where it also occurs;
agreeably to a general principle somewhat hastily assumed, that when romances and popular ballads have anything in
common priority belongs to the romances. The precedence in this instance is an open one, for the fundamental conception
not least a favorite with ancient Greek than with medieval imagination. [15]
Wimberly,[16] adds that this shows belief in the transmigration of the soul, a belief held by many civilized and primitive peoples.
Percy's warning to all Virgins, stanza is not found frequently in traditional texts.
It is natural to ask, "'How much does a ballad change in oral transmission from generation to generation?" When a ballad is recorded which the singer declares was known to one of his ancestors, what chance is there that his song is that of his ancestor. Obviously, there is little opportunity to make suoh a comparison. Mr. Samuel Hannon of Cades Cove, Tennessee, knew
---------------
15 Child. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. I. 98.
16 L[owry] C[harles Wimberly, Folklore in the English and Scottiss Balalds, Chicago, 1928, 208.
____________________________________________103_______
"Barbara Allen." His daughter, Mrs. Hiram Proctor of Cades Cove, sang a version of "Barbara Allen" in August, 1928 (Henry B) which she learned from her father. Mrs. Sam Harmon of Varnell, Georgia, a former resident of the mountains of East Tennessee gave the ballad to the collection of Geneva Anderson. Mrs. Harmon is, presumably, the mother of Mrs. Proctor and we can assume she learned the ballad from her husband. A comparison of these texts . . . recorded by different collectors-- shows them almost identical. The stanza peculiar to this version is:
I courted her for seven years
I asked her if she would marry,
With a bowed down head and a sweet little smile,
She never made no answer.
(Henry B, Anderson A)
"Lovesick" is the word for his master's illness which the servant uses in each, and on her way to the death-bed "She slightly talked and slowly walked." A difference is noted in Barbara's remarks:
For the love of me, your darling (Henry B)
For the love of Barbey Ellen (Anderson A)
and,
But you slighted me, your darling. (Henry B)
But you slighted Barbra Ellen (Anderson A)
Barbara's remark on seeing the corpse is in the form of direct address:
______________________________________________104__________
Young man, young man. you died for me today.
Henry Clay Oliver, also of Cades Cove, sang the first two stanzas of this version. His text is reported in Henry's Songs from the Southern Appalachians.
In July 1929, Miss Mary Franklin of Crossmore, North Carolina, sang a version of Barbara Allen (Henry C) which she had
learned from her grandmother. A year later the song was recorded from the singing of Miss Franklin's grandmother, Mrs. William Franklin (Henry D). It 1s interesting to note that Miss Franklin sang a full text of sixteen stanzas, whereas her grandmother was able to recall only five and a half stanzas of the same version. The older woman was obviously improvising some of the lines for they lack the rhythm or the ballad. A oouplet from each text will illustrate this point.
You handed wine to ladies all
But you slighted Barbara Allen. (Henry C)
You hand a drink to all the young ladles
And slighted Barbara Allen (Henry D)
It is, of course, possible the the younger woman's text had acquired lines from another version. Minor variations in the thought and wording of traditional texts will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter V.
________________________________________105______________
CHAPTER V
MINOR VARIATIONS IN THE BALLAD
There are few details of any ballad which. will be found unmodified in oral transmission. Those characteristics which remain relatively unchanged usually remain so through folk preference, or because they are integral to the story. The most consistent trait in "Barbara Allen" is the remark of Barbara to the young man when she finds him dying:
Young man, I think you're dying.
This line is found almost unchanged in every complete text. However, there are a few modifications even of this.
Sometimes the phrase is softened:
I am afraid you are dying (Davis X)
Young man, I fear you're dying (Scarborough G)
Poor boy, I'm sorry you are dying (NYPQ II)
Kind sir,
You are pale looking. (Scarborough E)
She is more vindictive in the following:
Young man, I hope you're dying! (Randolph E)
Her speech is lengthened in:
Are you so sick, so very sick
Ah who are those that grieve you?
Ah speak an' let the worst be known,
Oh speak an' I'll relieve you. (Randolph D)
_______________________________________106___________
Young man, young man, you're a-goin' to die
Cause you slighted Barbry Allen. (Randolph B)
Percy contemplated the chance of dyan to lyan in his "Scotch" version, but satisfied himself with a note that " 'Young man you are lyan' would be very characteristical."[1] The following year a Dublin edition appeared in whioh the change was printed.[2] The change also appeare in the Child C version from the Matherwell MS. It may be this flippancy which caused Motherwell to exclude it from Ms collection of traditional ballads.
And so slowly as she could say,
"I think young man you're lying." (Child C)
"Young man, I think ye're lyan."
(Percy's Dublin editor)
The statement is indirect in the following:
She found her true love dying. (Cox F)
The young man's reaction to Barbara's statement that he is dying is usually a simple acknowledgement that he knows he will die if he can't have Barbara Allen.
Oh yes, I'm sick, I'm very sick
And death is in me dwelling.
He uses the term "lovesick" in several texts:
I'm love sick here a lying, (Hudson J)
---------------
1 Percy, Reliques 125.
2 [Percy], Reliques, Dublin, 1766, 111.
________________________________________________107_____________
I'm love-sick and a-dying. (Davis L)
Low condition expresses his sickness in Belden D, Randolph B, Hummel A, B. Thomas 13, Cox G, R, Adventure [A]. In Hudson A and D, Brown O, and Davis Z, he is merely low, while in Sharp C and Scarborough B, he is mighty sick, or,
Although the line is usually,
Death is in me dealing (or dwelling)
Death is o'er me stealing,
some variations are:
Cold death is on me dwelling. (Cox D)
Death is hovering near me. (Davis AA)
I know my heart is sinking, (Davis W)
The pain of death' s upon me (Davis I)
For love of you is dying (Oox F)
And death is in yon dwelling (Davia X)
And this will be my calling (Beldcen H)
And the following unique understanding of the situatlon:
And death is with me, darling (Perrow A)
I feel my cold corpse coming(Brewster G)
And all the dootors can't cure me(Perrow 13)
But bitter for thee I'm sure to be (Brown H)
____________________________________________108_______________
The first person beginning found in English texts and in many texts related to print has been dropped from the usual American text, or, since it is not an integral part of the story, it may never have been a part of these versions. The usual beginning is the spring setting, specifically in "the merry month of May," a phrase used by Percy but also a commonplace in English love songs. A few unusual beginnings have been noticed:
J. J. Smith and it is my name,
New Alban is my station.
This is my dwelling here
Also my respectation. (Brown K)
There is no clue to the meaning of respectation. The idiom seems to be Irish.
The theme which is repeated later in the ballad, introduces one text:
Sweet William was down to his dwelling today,
He's down at his dwelling a drinking,
He passed his wine to ladies all
He alighted Barb'ra Ellen (Sharp D)
The following variation in the first person beginning probably owes its start to lyric poetry, perhaps to Poe's "Annabel Lee"
In Scarlet town where I war born
There was a maid a-dwellin'
Whom all men knew and you may know
By the name of Barbara Ellen. (Grapurehat)
This beginning is simliar to the common opening phrases of a limeriok:
__________________________________________109__________
There was a young man who lived in our town,
His given name was William;
He was taken sick and very sick
And death was in his dwelling. (Perrow [A])
The springtime setting has no unusual variations and this characteristic has been adequately covered in Miss Walker's thesis. The incremental stanza with a month of June beginning which is found in several American texts, has replaced the May beginning in two texts (Eddy B and Davis H).
One more unique beginning has been recorded:
There once was a pretty fair maid
And she lived on Lake Vitallon
She'd be my own true bride, she said,
And her name was Barbara Ellen. (Randolph C)
After the springtime setting the descriptive line introduced by "When" is almost universal. The line usually refers to the swelling of buds which may be wild buds, rosebuds, June buds, sweet buds, or red buds, and they may be springing, budding or growing flowers are frequently referred to in this line, and they are growing, swelling, blooming or budding. The kind of flowers may be mentioned as roses, rose, and pinks, or they may be little, gay, fair, or sweet. Trees may be "ripe and yellow" or "swaying." More rarely birds are mentioned and these are
------------------------
3 Walker Some Characteristics of Barbara Allen in America, 24.
______________________________________110__________
little or merry birds singing.
The English texts usually keep the lines:
When green leaves they were springing,
which is rare in American texts. No matter what the source the swelling of buds is the most accurate detail of an American spring and the folk have been alert to this foot in rural America where the ballad has been most vital.
The description is expanded in the following stanza:
All in the month, the month of May,
The pretty buds they were swelling,
They swelled till all pretty birds chose their mates,
And Barbary her Sweet William (Sharp E)
The first person of the introduction is carried into other stanzas of the ballad in some texts. The young men speaks:
I was taken sick, so very sick
Death on my brows were dwelling,
1 sent for the only one I loved,
Her name was Barbara Allen (Kennedy)
I sent a boy down to her house
To the house that she did, dwell in (Rawn B)
I wrote a letter on my death bed.
I wrote it slow and moving. (Henry E)
As I lay there on the dying bed,
I wrote my love a letter, (Davis D)
or Barbara speaks:
I never got but a mile from town
'Fore I heard death bells a-ringing. (Morris D)
_______________________________________111______________
I looked to the east and then to the west
And saw the pale corpse coming.
followed by lines which sound like a square dance call:
I turned around to the ladies all
And wished to the Lord I had him. (Morris D)
Barbara is prophetic in:
O bury him in the churchyard;
And bury me in the choir;
Out of him shall a red rose spread,
And out of me a green brier. (Cox E)
She makes a simple request:
When I die you must bury me in the old church yard
Bury me beside William. (Davis Z)
Although in the earliest references to the ballad the name of the heroine is Barbara Allen, and the earliest printed texts, all widely circulated printed texts in fact, use either "Allen" or the Scotch spelling "Allan." There is strong evidence to support the contention that her name in tradition was originally "Barbara Ellen." English folk singers insist that the name is "Ellen."
"There is no ballad that oountry singers are more fond of," says Sharp. "than 'Barbra Ellen' or 'Barbarous Ellen' or 'Edelin' as it is usually called."[4] He comments further that "to sing
------------------------------
4 C[ecil] J [ames] s[harp], "Folk Songs Noted in Devon," Journal or the Folk-Song Society, London, No.6, 1905, II, 3.
________________________________________112_______________
'Edelin' for 'Ellen.' when the melody provides a note for the extra syllable la in accordance with a practice frequently met in somerset."[5] Kidson adds a confirmation of this observation:
It is noticed that singers of the song in Yorkshire pronounce the name 'Ellen' not 'Allen,' With the Somerset oonfirmation
this may after all not be a corruption.[6]
In another note Kidson oltes a s1nger who remembered only one verse but was positive the name of the song was "Barbara Ellen," not "Barbara Allen." "Another confirmation," adds the editor, "that this is the truer title."[7]
Samuel Clemens, who had an accurate ear for dialects, gives an example of the singing mannerism which changes "Ellen" to "Edelin" noted by Sharp in Somerset. In Life on the Mississippi, Clemens includes an incident from the first draft of Huckleberry Finn which illustrates keelboat talk of his youth. Huck, having crept aboard a huge raft describes the rough singing of one man who roared through his nose, and strung out the last
--------------------
5 5[harp] Journal of the Folk-Song Society , No.6, 905, II, 5,
6 F[rank] K[idson], note in Journal of the Folk-Song Society, London, No. 6, 1905. II, 17.
7. Ibid, II, No. 7, 80.
_________________________________________113__________
word of every line very long. He then records another song:
There was a woman in our towdn,
In our town did dwed'l (dwell),
She loved her husband dear-i-lee.
But another man twyste as well.
Most of the traditional English texts use the name "Ellen." A note to a printed text of " Barbara Allen" which informs us that the singer called his song "Barbrew Annie," [9] leads us to suspect that "Allen" may sometimes be the choice of the editor.
In America "Ellen" is still sung in the moat isolated districts of Virginia and Kentuoky. Niles says it is widely known in 'North America as "plaln Barbary Ellen." [10] And Shoemaker [11] remarks that she is generally called "Barbara Ellen" in North Pennsylvania.
Joyce recalls two lines of an Irish version sung by a young girl, Ellen Ray, in which the death bell tolled:
---------------------
8 Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, New York, 1929. 20-21.
9 L[ucy] E. B[roadwoodJ note in Journal of the Folk Song Society. London, It no. 5, 1904, 266.
10 John J[acob] Niles, More Songs from the Hill Folks, New York, 1934, 6.
11 Henry Shoemaker,North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy, Altoona, Pennsylvania. 1919, 107
_________________________________________114_____________
"I died for you Barbara Ellen." [12]
Although Allsopp says the name is sometimes "Allet"[13]. I have not found a oonfirmation of this in any text I have examined.
In only one text examined for this study has the heroine a name not derived from "Barbara." Helen Fanders reports a New England version in which the name is "Mary Alling." The name "Alling" may be a corruption of "Allen," but since the internal evidence of the basin of blood points to an Irish origin, the suggestion of an informant who has lived in Ireland, that this is tan anglicized form of the Irish descriptive term aluin, meaning lovely, seems move plausible. The English equivalent would be "lovely Mary." There is, besides, a fragment of one stanza (Sharp M) in which the name is "Mary Ellen."
Variations of the name "Barbara" only reflect the dialect of the singer. These variations found in a cross-section of American texts have been tabulated by Miss Walker in her thesis. [14]
------------------
12 P[atrick] W[eston] Joyce, Ancient Irish Music, London, 1813, 79.
13 Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic New York. 1931, 11, 212.
14 Walker, Barbara Allen in America. 26
_____________________________________115_________________
The interchanging of the names Ellen and Allen in the printing of closely related texts makes it impossible to tell which was meant by the singer. The vowel shifting which has taken place in the English language since the seventeenth century and the closeness of short "e" and short "a" in the phonemic range of most Americans add confusion to the problem. In one printed text (Davis Z) the first stanza ends With the usual "Barbara Allen," but thereafter the heroine is referred to as "Miss Ellen."
The use or the name Allen or Allan in all printed versions may have been taken over by folk singers who became aware of the printed versions. The increase of literacy, especially in the Middle West. with its emphasis on authority in spelling and pronunciation, undoubtedly gave prestige to the printed versions, and such singers probably modified their songs according to the printed words. This could easily account for the tenacity of such phrases as,
When green buds they were swelling,
a line from Percy's "English" text which is found in many texts otherwise unrelated to print.
The name of the young man in the story is not so stable as that of the heroine. In the earliest versions he is nameless. Ramsay seems first to have given him the name of Sir John Graeme in 1740, and in texts related to this printed version the name
_______________________________________116________
is frequently Graham. Percy used the name "Jemmy Grove" in his "English" text and in traditional texts related to this text he is Jimmy, James, or Jemmy with the surnames of Green, Graves, Grey, Grew--the variations are endless. Derivations of this name persist in about thirty traditional texts otherwise unrelated to print. In an equal number of texts the young man is still nameless, but in most American texts which have consistently borrowed the rose-brier ending from "Lady Margaret and Sweet William," the name William has been substituted in the opening stanzas of the ballad. It will be noted, however, that Barbara always addresses her dying love as "young man."
In a few texts a local name seems to be used. He is Willie Harrell (Brown O), Weary Willie (Anderson J.), William Hilliard (Soarborough I), William Aaron (Perry), Jim Rosse (Hudson J). Young Belfry (Randolph, B. E. Allsopp). He retains a title in Gardner A where he is "Squire Grey," and in Eddy F, where he is "Lord Thomas " In Davis P the name "William Ryley" is borrowed from one of the ballads about that character.
She looked upon him with a scornful eye
And bursted out cying.
Adieu, adieu, to all friends on earth
And woe to William Ryley. (Davia P)
In every complete text Barbara is sent for by her dying
_________________________________117___________
lover. Usually it is a servant who goes for help, "To the town where she Was dwelling" or simply "to her dwelling." And says words to the effect that, *My master sends for you if you are Barbara. Allen."
In two texts Barbara is dwelling in the tavern:
He sent his man unto her then,
Unto the tavern where she was dwelling (Davis N,V)
She 1s sought in the taverns of the town:
He sent his servant to the town
To search in every tavern.(Davis U)
The servant is named:
He sent his servant John to town, (Scarborouch B)
Other unconventional variations include:
He sent his servant down to tell
The town where she was dwelling. (Belden C)(Macintosh B)
He sent hie servant through Charleston. (Brewster G)
He sent his servant from the field (Morris B)
He called unto his serving man
To go and get his gelding;
Make no delay till he got there
And bring him Barbry Ellen. (Davis Q)
He sent his butler to the place. (Cox E)
______________________________________119__________
He sent him down to Strawberry town
For to fetch him Barby Ellen. (Cox D)
He sent his name all in the town (Soarborough G)
He sent servant to the country
Where she was dwelling, (Davis p)
The following words spoken by the servant suggest a Biblical interpretation of the word "master"
My master he doth call on thee
If thy name be Barbara Ellen. (Cox B)
The following stanza has the cadence of a familiar game-song:
He called his servant to his bed
And lowly he said to him;
Go bring the one that I love best
And that is Barbara Ellen. (Davis A)
The message entrusted to the servant is unusual in:
He sent hie servant to the town
Where she'd been lately dwelling,
Saying "Bring to me those beautiful cheeks,
If her name be Barbey Allen." (Belden D)
In the following the nephew is sent to says:
My uncle's sick and very sick. (Davis AA)
Some little cousins are at hand to help along the affair:
____________________________________120_____________
They said, Your Uncle's got some little ones
To run the way to Ellen.
To run the way to Ellen town,
And bring you Barbary Ellen.
They ran and they ran till they could not run,
Until the, reached her dwelling,
They said, Your master's sick and sent for you
(If) your name be Barbara Ellen." (Adventure (B)
The meeting place is different in the following:
Rise up, rise up, and go to my store
If your name be Barbara Ellen. (DavIs L)
Barbara is sent for by letter in sixteen traditional texts. He may send the letter by servant, however:
He wrote a letter on his deathbed,
He wrote it low and moving,.
Go take this to my pretty little love
And tell her 1 am dying. (Sharp K)
He wrote a letter the town
To the town where she was dwelling;
He wrote it wide and wrote it long
Addressed to Barbara Ellen. (MacKenzie B)
The first person is carried from the introduction in this stanza:
As I lay there on the dying bed,
I wrote my love letter.(Davis D)
The same staza in the third person is:
As he lay all on his bed side
He wrote his love a letter, (Davis E)
____________________________________121_____________
Other variations inelude:
He wrote her a letter on his death-bed;
He wrote it slow and mourning, (Morris D)
He den sen' out his waitin' boy
Wid a note for Bobree Allin. (Davis 0, Smith F)
I wrote her a letter on my deathbed,
I wrote it slow and moving, (Henry E)
He lingered long on his slck bed
He wrote to her a letter (Perry A)
They set the table at his bedslde
He wrote her out a letter (Anderson F)
He sent a letter through the town
To Barbary Allen a dwellins. (Sharp E)
They sent a message to her house,
They sent it to her dwelling, (Doble A)
The commonest stanza in which a letter is sent is derived from the printed version of the Forget-Me-Not Songster and other early American songbooks, The following are from closely related texts:
0h, if had a man, a man.
A man within my dwelling,
I'd write a letter with my blood
And send to Barbara Allen (Davis 0) [see Forget-Me-Not Songster]
Who'd write a letter with my blood (Larkin, Adventure C)
_____________________________________122__
A man without my dwelling (MacKenzie A)
The stanza has found its way into texts not based on this printed version.
If I was it man and a mighty man,
A man of my own dwelling,
I would write me a letter of my own heart blood
And send to Barbara Allen. (Carter, Cox I)
the stanza is also in Davis R, the only text of this type which can be traced to an earlier source than these songbooks,
Some times the message sounds like a paged call:
Love there is call tor you (Sharp F, Brown G, Wheeler, Wyman)
Fair maid there is a call for you (MoGill)
There's a message for my lady fair (Henry C)
Saying there is a call for you (Scarborough H)
In one text Barbara softens her refusal by a proposal to postpone the decislon:
He courted her six months end more
And thought to gain her favor;
But she said to him. "Let's wait awhile,
For a young maid's mind will waver." (Brown Y)
_____________________________________123_______
From West Virginia comes a similar stanza with a different third line:
"young man, young man," said she to him.
"Young men has mines (mind's) to waver." (Cox F)
And from South Carolina:
When she says, "O wait, young man, do walt.
For young men's minds do waver." (Smith E)
She surely deserves the epithet cruel if she implies that she is in love with another:
"0 wait, O wait, O wait." she said,
"Some young man's gained my favor." (Brown F)
Although Barbara always heeds the request to go to he dying lover, she uaually goes slowly. The usual line in English
texts os:
So slowly, she put on her olothes. (JFSS I [C] )
In American texts the usual line is:
So alowly, slowly she got up
The English idea is found 1n several texts in which the garments she put on are specified:
Very slowly, she put on her wraps (Davis Z)
And slowly, slowly she rose up
And got her bonnet and started. (Davis H)
_______________________________________123________________________
She could not have gone any more slowly than,"
Slowly she arose, put on her olothes,
How long she was .. going.;
Shena one long, long summer day
And just one mile a-going.
In a few texts Barbara goes in haste:
Quickly she got her coat and hat (Gardner A)
And then she left her dwelling, (Adventure [B])
In one text, she dresses quickly but takes her time going:
So quickly she put on her clothes
So slowly she rode to him. (Greenleaf)
This is reversed in:
Then slowly, slowly got she up,
And swiftly she went to hill
She slowly walked the chamber round--
Young man, I think you're dying. (Davis J)
In one text she runs to his bedside,
She came, she oame a running. (Sharp D)
The milk white steed, found in other texts when Barbara is leaving the bedside of her dying lover, is here used to carry to him:
She mounted upon her milk-white steed
And went through town a-flying,
And all she said . . . (Brewster H)
______________________________________124________
Come bridle me a milk-white colt
Come saddle me a pony,
That I may ride to his bedside
And see if he is dying. (Greenleaf)
The Scotch traditional text has this line.
So softly aye a. she put en. (Child C)
This text shows that the singer dId not understand the words for they have become nonsense syllables:
La, lo, la, lo, oh! she got up
La, lo, la, lo she came near him. (Davis B)
Contenders for the superiority of the"Sootch" version of the ballad have generally stressed the absence of motivation for Barbara's conduct in the "English" version. There is, however, strong evidence that Barbara's accusation of' her lover belongs to English tradition. The accusation is found more frequently than not in the southern mountaina where tradition has probably been handed down with less ohange than in England where stall prints nave been oirculated at every village fair until recent years. The plentiful survival of the ballad 1n this area argue for a deep-rooted tradlt1on. A contributor to the Brown oollection said,
I have yet to find a mountain singer who didn' t know Barbara Allen." [15]
--------------------
15 Hudson, Folk Songs of North Carolina, 124
_____________________________________125______
Luther,[16] says that there were fifteen thousand English in Virginia in 1648--elghteen years before Pepys' reference to the ballad.
Thi. stanza is not lacking in Engllsh tradition but it has not been found frequently in reoent years. When in 1904 a text with the slight in the alehouse was printed in the Journal of the Folk Song Society, it was accompanied by a note calling attention to this rare stanza.[17]
A folk singer, Mrs. Bodell, wrote a letter of protest, which I will include at this point because it shows the traditional charaoter not only of the acousation but also that the young man's defense of his action was familiar to an English folk singer long before it was discovered in an isolated district in Virginia in 1912.
Honored and Dear Sir, .... I venture to write that I knew a long time ago that Barbara's conduct was due to His, for He was a Sir of the West Countree And he courted Barbara Allen and he became very ill. And he sent for her and when she came into his House or ohamber she said By the pallor or your face I see young man your dying. And he asked her to get down a cup from a shelf which held the tears he had shed for her. And she then said Do you remember the other night when
----------------------
16 FrankLU'ther, Americans and their Songs New York. 1942. 17.
17 L [ ucyJ E. B[roadwood], note in Journal of the Folk SongSociety, London, 'I. No.5. 1904. 266.
_________________________________________126________
when at the alehouse drinking That you drink the health of all girls there but not poor Barbara Allen. He replied I do remember the other night when at the Ale house drinking I drank the health of all that was there but my love was Barbara Allen. And when she waited near four crossroads she met his corpse a-coming. Put down put down that lovely corpse; And let me gaze upon him. Oh Mother Mother make my bed and make it long and narrow, for my truelove has died to day I'll follow him tomorrow. . .
The slight to Barbara is usually aasociated with drinking. The neglect may be in not passing the wine to Barbara, or in not toasting her. The printed versions use the word "tavern" in describing this scene and it is found in twenty-nine American texts, exclusive of those obviously based on print. American singers, however, do not always understand the word as will be seen by the following line:
. . . in yonder taber drinking. (Haun)
The three English texts in which this scene occurs use the word "alehouse" which is found also in a Louisiana fragment reported by Davis; and in Greenleaf's text. In two American texts the slight takes place in the "bar room" (Davis L and Hudson D). And the "grocery store," source of general supplies in early rural America, is the scene of drinking in a atanza supplied by a bystander as an alternative in Belden O.
-------------
18 L[ucy] E. b[roadwood] in Journal of the Folk Songs Society, II, No. 6, 1905, 17
_________________________________
Other Amerioan customs are reflected in:
Ah don't you remember last New Year's Eve
Way down at yonder drinking, (Cox E)
Remember on last Wednesday night
When we were at a wedding, (Perrow [A])
Don't you remember on a wedding night (McDonald)
More common in American texts is a scene in a town or dwelling,
Don't you remember in yonder town
When we were at your dwelling,
variations of this inolude:
Ah, now remember when you were well
You rode around my dwelling, (Davis W)
Don't you relect (sic) the other ohurch day
When we were on our dwelling. (Hudson P)
Dontt you remember last oountry day
WhIle at your table drinking, (Davis Q)
A hint of sarcasm may be detected in the phrasing of the accusation in these texts:
Remember the time that you passed the merry wine (Davis AA)
You brought your wine and strewed it round (Davis X)
You drank the glass and tossed it around (Eddy B)
_____________________________________128______________
Sometimes the slight is in dancing. The dance may be a grand ball as:
Do you remember that night at the ball
With the lights about us gleaming,
You danced with many a pretty fair mald
And you slighted Barbara Allen. (Davls' Louisiana text)
or what seems to be a country dance:
Ah don't you rememher the other day,
When we were at the station,
You passed your hands to the ladies all around,
And slighted Barbara Allen. (Haun [B])
But the slight may be in gift giving or in treating to sweets. In this text recorded in 1921, the slight has become petty indeed, perhape aa a insult of the eighteenth amendment, which was then in force:
. . . . .
You were buying cakes and candy
You gave treat to the ladies all around
And slighted Barbara Allen. (Davis CC)
In this Mississippi text the nature of the gift is not mentioned:
In a gathering over yonder,
You gave yourself to all around. (Hudson A)
More than a single inoident is implied by the following:
Recollect. recollect, reoollect young man,
When I boarded at your tavern,
You drank, you walked with the ladies round
And you slighted Barbara Allen. (Scarborough I)
____________________________________129____
Jealousy or one lady is lmplied by:
You drank a health to the lady there
But slighted Barbara Allan. (Brewster I)
Only twice has the line introduced by Allan Cunningham been found in tradition:
When the red wine you were filling (Gardner A, McGill)
Since the discovery of the text of Davis A, in 1912, when the young man's vindication of himself first appeared in print in America, many American versions have been discovered with this stanza. It is usually in the form of an incremental stanza ending with the line:
But my love to Barbara Allen.
Variations of this are:
And respected Barbara Allen (Morris A, Hudson D)
But I never seen Barbara Allen (Randolph F)
I drank my health in the greatest of' wealth
And I drink yours, Barbara Allen. (Davis H)
Within my heart was Barbara Allen. (Davis P)
But I dreamed of Barbara Allen. (Davis' New Orleans text)
A sinister undertone may be detected in the following variation of the reply to Barbara:
_____________________________________130_________________
I'll drink my health with my living friends
And my love to Barbara Allen. (Davis Z)
In one text the young man defends himself although the accusation is missing:
For don't you remember the other day,
In yonder taber [sic] drinking,
I lent my help to the ladies all
And love to Barbara Allen. (Haun)
We read that Barbara Allan was used as a dance in early Amerioa, and the stanza with its incremental answer could easily be used for a call,
You drank your health in the greatest of wealth,
You drank to the ladies all 'round you,
You drank your health in the greatest of wealth.
And slighted Barbara Allen. (Davis H)
The following stanza is found in four traditional texts at the point in the story where Barbara enters the presence of the dying young man:
Be reached out his lily white hand.
This to tell her howdy,
"No, oh no, kind sir," she sa1d,
And she would not go about him. (Perry A, Smith P, Morris C, Sharp K)
A similar stanza found in nine texts at the same point
_____________________________________131___________
He reached forth his pale white hand
Aiming for to touch her
She slipped and danced all over the floor
And says, I will not have you. (Brown G, H, J)
He stretched out his pale white hand,
Expecting to touch hers,
She hopped[19] and skipped all over the floor,
And, "Young man; I won' t have ye." (Anderson E, Pound B, Smith H, Duncan D)
She skipped, she hopped allover the floor,
She turned her back upon him
Saying, "None the better will you ever be.
For you'll never get Barbara Allen." (Scarborough I)
These stanzas may have been borrowed from another song. A similar line is found in "Sweet William's Ghost (Child 77A).
She stretched out her lilly-white hand,
And for to do her best.
Other lines from traditional ballads, which are similar to lines found in texts of "Barbara Allen" are:
She turned her baok unto the room
Her face upon the wa, (Willie and Lady Maisry Child 70 A)
O huly, huly rose she up
And huly she put on, (The Lass of Roch Royal, Child 76 A
----------------
19 jumped, Sharp B.
_______________________________________132__________________
O huly, huly raise she up (Willie and Lady Maisry, (Child 70- B)
Lady Margaret (died) on the over night.
Sweet William died on the morrow.
Lady Margarret died for pure, pure love,
Sweet William died for sorrow. (Lady Margaret and Sweet William, Child 74- B)
Lady Ouncebell died on the yesterday,
Lord Lovill on the morrow,
Lady Ouncebell died for pure, pure love,
Lord Lovill died for sorrow. (Child 74 A)
"Open the winding sheet," he cried
"That I may kiss the dead;
That I may kiss her pale and was
Whose lips used to look so red." (Child 74 B)
A bequest of valuables and blood is found in several texts which can be traced to Ireland. Almost identical wording is found in Englleh texts with this detail. Typical stanzas are:
You took to the head of my bed
There is a napkin hanging;
Into it is my gold watch and chain--
It's all for Mary Alling.
You look to the side of my bed,
There is basin standins,
It quite overflows with my heart's blood
I shed tor Mary Alling. (Flanders)
Similar pairs of stanzas are found in NYFQ II, FSSNW, Greenleaf, C. Smith, Rawn, Williams[A) , Davis T, Sharp 100, JFSS
II [E] and Gardner A have only the bequest of blood. It is a
_____________________________________133_____
"pool of 'blood " in JFSS II [E]: a bowl of blood in William [A], Sharp 100, Rawn [A], and a sold watch and chain in the other
texts. Bequests of money are made in seven texts. Three or these are almost identical:
When I am dead, look under my head;
You'll find two rolls of money,
Go share them around with the fair, young girls,
And share with Barbara Allen. (Smith E, Brown F)
Cox F is a negro version in which three rolls of money are bequeathed. In Cox K and Cox G gold and silver are bequeathed. In
Davis T the amount is ten thousand pounds and in Davis S "he counted out five thousand pounds."
It was pointed out in Chapter IV that the bequest is found in a very long printed version which is related to a text which can be traoed to Ireland. In purely tradItional texts the bequest of blood is common in England.
Oh, you look down at my bed-feet
You'll see a bowl a standing,
With the drops of blood I shed for thee.
For I loved thee Barbara Allen. (Williams [A])
It you look dow nat my bed's foot
You will see a bowl a standing,
And in it is the blood I've ahed
For the sake of Barbara Ellen. (Sharp 100)
Here is a dish of my heart' s blood,
I shed for Barbara Allen. (Barry C)
______________________________________134________
In one English text Barbara refuses the bequest:
That shant be mine, and I won't be thine,
So fare thee well sweet Edwin. (Williams [A])
In Mrs. Bodell's letter to the secretary of the Folk Song Society, in which ahe outlined the story of Barbara Allen, we note that "he asked her to get down a cup from a shelf which held the tears he had shed for her."[20]
Another reference, to his tears is:
O cross my love to the window light,
And see the tears come wellln',
The tears I cannot choose but shed,
For love of Barbara Ellen. (Sharp and Marson)
Greig's C version contains a bequest of "a china basin full of tears."
Ringing bells are a familiar detail of the ballad of "Barbara Allen." The bell is usually called the "dead bell" although the term is not universal. Bells have been associated with funeral customs in many ways. The oustom of having a beadle perambulate the street" with a bell and announce the death of an individual was reported as surviving in Barrowstones, Linlithgow
--------------------
20 B[roadwood] Journal of Folksong Society London, II, No. 6, 1905, 17.
____________________________________135________
aS late as 1796. The beadle also walked before the corpse to the Churohyard, ringing his bell.[21]
In 1883, Oharlotte Burne declared that the Edgemont custom of ringing the dead home, is namely of chiming all bells instead of one while the funeral was on its way to the church, was astonishing to strangers[22].
Wimberly believes that the dead bell of "Barbara Allen" is probably the passing bell rung immediately upon a person's death or during his passing from life to death.[23] This makes the immediacy of the bell more logical although this logic is not necessarily to be expected in a ballad.
The bells are called "corpse bella" in Sharp D, and "church bells" in Cox D, Davis X, D, Smith B, and "She heard strange bells a-ringing" is the phrase of Smith C. Barbara is usually admonished by the bells. The words she hears are usually "Hs.M. Hearted. Barbara Allen." "Unworthy
---------------------
21 John Brand Britain. _4. 0, Carew &.11 ,n on, 90:>, I~. 253. ,
22 Charlotte Sophie Burne London, 188)-1886, '0'.
23 Charles Lowry Wimberly. University of Nebraska studies in Language, .. tel",a,ture and. Or1t101&m, No.8, L1nooln, NE, 1927, 89-90.
__________________________________136__________
Barbara Allen," or "Woe to Barbara Allen," but the following variatlons are found.
Farewell to Barbara Allen. (Dobie B)
Cruel Barbara Allen. (Anderson A, D, Crabtree B)
Stop there, Barbara Allen. (Henry A)
Stop thou, Barbara Allen (Brown F)
Unearthly Barbara Allen. (Davis H)
Reminisoent of Dick Whittington is,
Turn back, Barbara Allen. (Brown G)
"The warning has become, subjective in most American texts so that the line reads:
They sang so sweet they seemed to say, (Brown U)
Every bell appeared to say, (Henry E)
And as they rung she thought they sung (Cox I)
or the subjectivity is carried further:
They sang so olear unto her ear
That she commenced lamenting. (Sharp C)
One interesting variation is:
And every stroke hit spoke her name. (Niles)
_______________________________________137________
In one text the young man tells the bells to warn Barbara
"Ring, death-bells, ring,· says he,
Say, "Cruel Barbara Allen" (Hudson P)
Barbara is warned or admonished in other ways, too. The most common warning is by singing birds. It is a "swamp bird" in
Hudson I. Other variations are:
She thought she heard her own heart say. (Davia Z)
She mounted on he milk-white steed
And she rode though town a-sailing,
And every house that she passed
Said, "woe unto Barbara Allen." (Brewster B)
She jumped into her fine carriage
Ana through the town travelled,
And every tavern she passed by
"There goes Miss Barbara Allen." (Davis U)
She mounted to her stage on high
And through the town went sailin' (Davis H)
She mounted on he milk-white steed
And she rode though town a-sailing,
And all the folk that she passed by
Said, "woe unto Barbara Allen." (Morris A)
Hie death cold featurea say to me,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen." (Fuson)
_____________________________________
And every tear he shed appeared
"Hard-hearted Bobree Allen."(Smith F)
The young man hears his own death bells:
Ad1eu! adieu to the ladles all
I hear my death bell rInsing,
And all that I can hear 1t say,
Hard hearted Barbara Allen."(Haun)
In another text the birds merely say.
"Sweet William now is dying." (Davis X)
In printed text crowd is present to admonish Barbara when she meets the corpse, this is rare in traditional texts.
A few examples oan be cited:
All her friends cried out, "For shame,
Hard-hearted Barbara Allen.· ,
(Adventure [A])
All her friends cried out, "Amen,"
(Davis N)
unt1l the girl. 4id all cry Qut,
NA shame on Mar1 Alling."
(Flanders)
The warning has been modifIed 1n the following:
Aa she vas returning home,
She hea rd the death bell ringing.
And oft she stopped and listened while
The mourners still kept com1ng.
(Davis Q)
More frequently than not Barbara meets the body of her dead lover and asks to look upon hlm. The word "corpse" is
________________________________
common to most texts, but that the singer is not always familiar with the word is shown by the fact that, it is treated as plural in such phrases as "those 10e cold oorpse" (Hummel A, B, Thomas B, Cox E), "Those cold corpse" (Davls p), "those pale oorpse" (Randolph I) and,
As I got about a mile from town
I saw .om- corpse a coming.
Lay those corpse before my eyea
i'h$tI may look upon ,be
(Davis D)
(Belden D. Pound A)
"Lay down, lay down those Corpse," she cried.
(Morrls E)
7he won'U.ng of a rev texts s\lF.,geata that the singer understood tn. corps. to be acting on 1ts ow 1'O_r. She addresses the corpse directly in the following English text.
Aa I wae 601»8 through the trees
I saw s~ co~e a com1ng.
Iou 00t'1U18 of clay, lay down, I pray,
That I may saae all on the ••
(JF8S II [E], Sharp-Somerset)
American texts with the same suggestion are:
(Soarborough E)
Lie down, 11e down, you pale oorpse you,
Let me take Q 1a.' look upon you.
Lie down, 11e down, you pale corpse you
Tlll I can smile upon you.
(Davle A)
Gerould tells us that in ballads a ghost 1s sometimes
___________________________________
referred to as a "corpse" &8 in Sir Hugh (Ohild 155 A).
And at the back 0 mepry Linooln
The dead corpse dId her meet ..
He states, further, that "the balladist does not distinguish
olearly between body and spirit, or at least 113 unable to O'onveive
of spirit without body."[24] In the light of this statement we may
suppose that 80metimes the Singer belleves the corpse to be a
revenant.
In the earliest reoorded texts Barbara meet. the
oorp.. &88he 1s oross1ng the field., The tact that t.he corpee
was carried into the count.ry mal refleot a pre .... Ohrist1an custom
reported by W. BarnEUllt who state. thllt lt was "unlaWful to bury
the dead, wlthin the clties but they ueed to be c&,rrled out Into
the fields hard by."25
SUoh linea a. the following clea.rly 1nd1oate bur1al
outside of town.
As she was walld.ng thl"Ough the field ••
---------------
24 Gerould, The
Ballad of Tradition 140.
25 Brand, Popular Antiquities 82.
___________________________________
Bar1;nra. is usually on. foot ~nc1. soint~: "through the
fields." up or down the street. t.hrough the to't'm. 'rhe fields may
be wooded 01' open. Some varl~'l,tlons o.re:
.. .. .. down the long piney walk
(Henry E) . .. . on her h.1shway home
(Brm'r£l 'Lf, a,nd otherD)
near :four eroae roads .. • !II
(JFSS II [EJ)
Tr.te eli stance from to'Ym mc"y be given 1;I,t,4 a mile J three
::niles, five milen, or ten rxt1108. She is sometimes l"ldlng:
.. .. .. out from Scarland town
(Cox I) . .. .. tOW8.rd her home
(Henry and Matteson)
She may leave by descending sta,irs#
As she t'liEmt do't'm the lone ate,ir stepa
(Sharp K)
In the Minish manuscript. Barbara is seen leaving his
dwelling and arriving at her own:
As she went dOl'm his Ol;m from steps
A goin t baok t,o her own d.l<lell1ng.
(Minish)
The most frequent introduction to the meeting with the
corpse is the couplet found in many texts:
She looked to the East, she looked to the west
She saw the pale corpse coming.
______________________________
This line found only in American texts, is probably til
commonplace borrowed from some forgotten song game.. In the author's
youth a Same called "Little Sally Waters" had the l1nes
Turn to the East. Sally. tum to the West.
fum to the cne that you leve best.
An unusu.al stanla 18 found in one te·xt.
She looked t.o the Ea .• t an' ahe looked to the
IheMen t.he .ha~ot. a OOlltn' J
W1t.h.tvo graY,hor ....... workln' in the breast,
And Wl111.' a corp.. bfthtnd 'em.
(Randolph F)
Rare13 doe. any tlae ela.pae betw.en the death or the
young man and hie burlal. .An exoep'tlon seem8 to be implIed by the
follovln.g.
As .he :retumed :from. church one day,
Aa she ret.umed trOll cmaroh ndt day
She met. t.he corpse a-oomllll:h
(Davi. E)
(D • .,11 V)
Although Ba~ft _.pa at-the .ight of the cOl"pse. or
l.ugh. in those text •• lo •• ly Nl.ted to print, ahe shows utt.er
eontualon in the following:
She atoppe4 a.n4 looked. up an4 4tnm the street
And MW ht. corrin oomlngl
&he.71H, ·Oh, LeN, whatehall I 40,
Shall I SO and 1Me, hie coffln'-
(Morriss C)
The melodramatic speech and actions of the follOWing is
___________________________
uncommon in ballad a •
S~e looked to th. Eaat, she looked to the West,
A-wringing her hands and cryins.
-&t <line. ft. "4 but nov he's dead.,
All his beauty baa left him."
(Smith E)
·Corp.e" 18 not the only word USN 1n this situation.
The more :ra.11l111ar "funeral" 115 fotmdln Gardner A. Barry A. In
Flanders· version ahe .... the "hea.rse" ooming wh1le ahe atand.
at bel" tathe~ •• satea 1n Breweter B abe -spled the cortase coming"
s.nd his tfocffln" in Sharp A. M. )(orr18 A. In Sharp :a she S$EU!I
"h18 pale ta ..... oming.
Her direotions at this point vary slightly. In Niles
ehe direct. the be$"1". t.o put bi. d:own. and In Thompaon t It text
ahe aeea the "barriers dressed 111 moumlng.· The word bitr~',rl
1s probab11 Ii folk ooablnatlon of tn. word 'Stlret' and ~.
atemm1ng from .. ai.understanding of the fu.netion of the bearers.
The word 1,1 apelled "burlera" 11'1 Kaolenzle B but obviously the
spelling 1. not the .lng.~1 ••
Charlotte Bum. says that within her .memory the choice
ot bearers w •• a matter 1'01' oaretul oonslderatlon on the part of
sick folk near to dea1.h and tbat young men were borne to the
grave by young lI.n.2~
Whether fickleness of aftection 1s to be imputed to
--------------------
26 Burne shropshire Folklore, 300.
____________________________________
Barbara by the followlng ex.eerpt or not. it lmplles that yoUl18
men are oarrying the eorpliJe.
She Bay.. Come around. you nice young men
And let me look up.on you.
Some variationa ot Barbara's dIrections are.
Driver, drive over to my 81de
!'hat I nUl,. gaze upon him ..
(Davla Y)
Lay down. la,. down that deathly tl'al'lle.
(Henry and Matteson)
k:r-bara's request is usually merely to gaze upon him,
but in a few stanzas she asks to kiss the corpse:
And then she kissed thoae tear cold cheeks
!bat ahe N~.ed When dying.(Belden D)
Untold. untold that lily-wh1te sheet
.AM. let me kiss my darling. (Morrie C)
"Lay dow, lay dow the corpse," she said,
-fbat I aa7 kiss upon him." (Arnold)
The windlng sheet is sometimes mentioned at this point:
fake off. take off that wlndln.g sheet
fb&t % may look UPOll h1m. (MCGill)
Fold down, fold down, those linen white sheets
And let·me gaze upon- him.
(Cox H)
Unfold, unfold that milk-white sheet (Smith C)
__________________________________
The request to "hand me down" the corpse frequent in southern texts, Miss, Walker suggests that this phrasing is borrowed from tne eong "Hand me down my walking cane"[27] stanzas,
Han' Ill" down that corpse ericl."
(SmIth B, Duncan D)
Hand down, hand down that corpse of clay.
($harp n. Randolph X)
The meanlng seems to be confused in these related 8M eearce11 came to her dwelling place t
She saw his corpse a-comlng., I, '
Pf:oa'1 han, to me that 0014 lump ot clay
And 1 .. ·\ me 11e upon 1 t..11
(Morris B)
And when at 1a.t ahe reaohed her home
W1 th eyes that _re red w1 thcrying,
She •• ,8" dHand me down tho.e ClOpp •• of elay.
And let me ga.e upon them. tl
(Adventure [:eJ)
Barbara's insistence on seeing the corpse may be ~ lat.a to a bellef he14 1n Shropshire aM elaewhere that If' a person
who .". a oorps. 40e. not lay his h&nd upon 1t he will dreul
of 1t arterwarda.. Kl.a Burne lugs.ata that this touch may once
have been a proof that the visitor was guilt10SS of' the d.eath by
v101eno. o:r spella. and that whoever shrank tram th1 B action
----------------
27 Walker, Barbara Allen in America, 30.
_____________________________________
"would be haunted by the dead man as 1f he had been his murderer." [28] This surmise would surely justify the heartlessness of
the orowd that orie. "out amain. Hard hearted Barbara A.llen."
Another almost tmlversal oharaoteristI0 11! Barbara·.
request foft ber mottle!" to malte her bed. The usu.al wording is.
Mother. mc>ther •• at. my bed.
Make 1t both 80ft and narrow.
VariatIons of this include:
. . . smooth and narrow, (Davle L, Perry A)
. .. safe and narrow.(Fauset)
. . . safe for sorrow (JFSS I [BJ)
. . . neat an narrow(Davis 0)
· . .fit to die on. (Kldson LA])
. . . long and narrow (Sharp A)
In some texts the word 'fix" is used Instead, of "make." The request 1 (It :for mothe!" to "make my eilrowd 11 ln Cox C, Davis D, C, Smith F, Hummel A,B, and Adventure [A] ; a pIllow 18 requested 1n
Smith E.
----------------------
28 Burne, Shropshire Folklore. 298.
________________________________________
The mother 18 requested to dig the grave in Smith D.
Randolph F. Hud;son N. Scarborough E, and Dav1a Al.
The request for fat.her t.o "dig my gravelt 1s usually 1n
the form of am inoremental stanza although 1 t may stand alone.
1ImI. 1s ,ubatltute4 tor IIR£hl£ in only a tew texts;
Davia L, Pound At Bud.on Nt Be~ll :0. Horri. D, Brown M.. If t.he
father 18 mentioned in these text. he 18 referred to as·papa."
A variationo! the u.ual directlon 1.,
tt f aso !hke m1 0e4 in th. .far baok room,
It -. 60 make 1 t lons and narrow.
(Duncan B)
aomet-ae.' BarbaN. .. ,ue". ~o be oarrted home to die.
Usually the reque,' ,. INA.. '0 her .othe:r al!! in Brewster A,B.,F,
Eddy DJ Moq,ll,l. Mason, Ander.on A. Orabtree A, Dobie :8, Brown r,A,
D ,X, Neely and Lair.
lit one 'ext t.be request 1, made to her brother,
Qh ,m~ther 4ear, 0 __ (1nd. my head,
PoP pr14. hal .",ereome m ••
Oh brother dear. oome CUTY me hOlle I.
For dN.th baa 0" upon m ...
(Randolph D)
In th1. text both parentI receive the requeatc
-Kothe", fa1ith.,.. 'ak ••• home,
For seth ... , X .4y1ng. t
(Davis Y)
Barbara assumes the responsibility tor the tragedy in
most texts. at lea8t by implioation. Her self approach is ex-
________________________________
pressed in aeveral ways. The "warning to all virg1ns" stanza Introduced by Percy is found 1n all texts olosely related to that
version but is rarely in other texts. One traditional varIation of this stanza is;
Oome now, all you .aldens of th1e town
And listen to my atory,
o do not alight nor grle.e your love.
Fop ·twill surely blaat 'OUX- glory.
(Thompson)
The tollowlng 'types of self-reproaoh 1. found in the
Roxburghe ballad. but text. w1 th thl. characterlot1e usually ahow
e. wording ftearer to 1'eNY·. text.
Bawl hearted creature hlm t0811ght
Who loved .e 80 d ... rly I
Ohha4. I been more klnd to h1D1
ft .. he _8 altv. and near me.
(NIF'i lIt and Maoxenzl. 0)
An Engllth varaiation from tradition is:
Hard hearted girl I must hav. been
to the 1a4 t.11.,t lov.. 1M nearly.
I w1sh 1 had my time aga1n
1·4 loy. that youngman dearly.
(Sharp-Somerset, JFS8 II [:E])
Kere common 1n tradItional texts 18 the our.e or her
name and nature;
Oh cursed be Il1 enlT name
.And 0\11"8.4 be Ity Ila'ure,
I might have alt",M that yotmg man t" lite
It I had done mJ t1.uty.
(Anderson D, Sharp B)
The second l1.ne 1. "Cursed be thy beauty" in Randolph L,
____________________________________
and Crabtree B,
other variations inolude.
Oursed, ouraed be my 11fe ...
(Davis A)
Oruel, oruel be my name.
(Hudeon p)
In ... en text. tbe last two l1n •• are telescoped with
another atan.a, 'hu. omitting t,m, ~'.t 'rhea. text. are Anderson
F, Perry A. ~~orr1. D. Belden a, Brown .A,W. Henry 0, Henry and
l-1atte.on.
!h.,· word t»attI2J! ie tenacloulIJ in some versions. One
wonder. what 1t meant to the singer 1n such 11nea ass
Fo~ 1 might have saved that youn@ man's 11fe
By shoring mJ end.avor.
the 1m.. arre ""ereed by 80me s1ngers c
(Randolph X)
If I tried my true endeavor, (Sharp E)
Saying, "If I'd cdone my duty today,
I's saved this man from dying."
, ( Independent, Perrow [.A])
The curse is more graphic in the following:
" Oh, hell must be my name," eaid she,
If Oh, hell .\1.1, be my future,
I might have saved this young man's life,
By trylng my endeavor." (Eddy A)
Minor varlations are:
_____________________________
I once could have saved this poor man' s life
Said cruel Barbara Allen. (Hudson I)
And kept him from hard dying.
She becomes melodramatic:
She fell up against his bedside
A-screaming and a -orying,
"I might have saved this young manta life
If' I only had been trying."
(Soarborough B)
In a few texts Barbara blames others for her denial.
This characteristic haa been noted in a Scotch text (Greig A)
where in incremental stanzas Barbara blames her father, brother and sisters. In American text, her mother is usually blamed:
She went and stood in yonder door,
Till she saw her mother coming,
Oh mother. 0, mother, you're the cause of thls
You would not let me have him. (Dunoan A)
Another stanza beg1ns:
She ran all up and down the street
Till she saw her mother com1ng.
(Dunoan B)
The oonclusion of the stanza is repeated. in:
Qh mother a. •• r, fOU oau.eed all thi.,
XGuwou1d not 1." .. have him.(Davis J)
The mother at least shares the blame in the following:
I might have saved that young man's life
But mother, you indulged me. (Davis W)
________________________________________
the whole clan is blamed apparently in the following:
Go tell to my parents mcst dear
Who would not let me have htm,
Go t.ll to the rest ot 1ft, ldn tolk"
Who caueed me to toral1ke h1n1.
(Sharp 0)
Surely a matriarchal society 1s reflected In thIs ballad,
for Barbara's mother is the most emminent figure 1n 1 t beside.
Barbaft and her lover. She is tUNall,. !'lsked to make Barbara's deathbed. Barbara sometimes rushes home to her mother,
mother 1. th. one blamed tOl" the tragedy if Barbara does not
.houlder the blame herself and the mother goes to an early e:rave
her.elf 1n a nwnbttr of American tewta.
Both mothett. dl. top t.he lovers in Sharp a 1 and both of
Barbara' a ,arent. d1. 1n tw text.,
ment.
or,
And both parent. that Barbara loved,
They died on Easter Monday ,(SmIth D)
The parents died for loss of them both.
(Adventure [B])
Barbara's request is frequently followed by the state-
ment:
Sweet William died for me today,
I'll die tor him tomorrow.
or,
Sweet William died for pure, pure love,
And I shall die for sorrow
_________________________________
Sometimes incremental stanzas make use of both endings.
the variations are slight, indeed. Examples are:
Sweet William died for me tonight.(Soarborough F)
She orled and orlea until she died,
For love of William Hilliard. (Soarborough I)
L1ttle Willie died nth a pUN heart,
And I will die for sorrow. (Morris D)
Johnny Green d1ed for the love of his dear"
Barby Ellen died sorrow. (Cox D )
Willie was bur1ed tor me today,
And I'll die for him tomorrow. (OOX B)
Sweet Wllliam died choked up 1n love,
I'll die for him in sorrow. (Sharp P)
My true love died tor me yesterday,
I'll die for him tomorrow. ( Sharp 100)
Youns man, young man. you died tor me,
I Will die tor you tomorrov. (Henry a, Andereon B)
Sweet William died in grief tor me,
I'll die tor him in sorrow. (Anderson G)
SWeet Willie dle4 to. love today,
.And I'll die for grief tomorrow.(Dobie B)
Sweet W1l1iam 41.4 for me laat nlght,
I'll die for hlm tomorrow. (Dunean C)
___________________________________
The singing game quality noted in other stanzas of
thIs ballad 1s 1n ev1dence here a1so:
Sweet Willie blue, Sweet Willie true.
Sweet W1111$ ptlr-pl$ as a 111y,
SWeet Willie d1$4 tor me today.
I'll die forhim tomorrow.
(Morris )
In the Scotch tradItional text the line 1s uniqucu
Oeh hone, oh hone, he's dead and gone
For love ot Bar-baA. Allen.
(Child C)
What is implied by the following stanza 1. left to the
reader's lmag1natlon. but the phrasing suggests a stanza of
"Mary HamIlton."
Laflt night I made .111 bed both wid.,
Tonight %'11 .... it n~f
Sweet WIlliam 41_ tot' me last night.
I'll die for hIm tomorrow.
(Duncan A)
The rose-brier ending, common to most American texts, is obviously due to talk preference, for although this commonplaoe
is lacking in pPillted text, and in most traditional texts
from England. its appropriatenes is felt by most American sIngers
and is frequently 1noluded in "membered fragments even though little of the essential story is retained, It is usually a, red
rose that grow. from William's grave and a 'brier from Barbars's.
Although this is sometimes reversed. the implication seems to be that the brier 1s a sign of her cruelty. This contempt for
__________________________
Barbara is further shown in Belden E, where William is buried in the old churchyard and Barbara in the miN." The plant. usually
spring from their graves but some exceptions are:
An' from her breast there sprang a rose,
An' from his feet a brier.
(Randolph D)
This is reversed in Sharp a"her.
the brier grows from teet
Out of his heart grew a red rose.
(Wheeler, Niles)
Out of William's heart grew a red rose,
Out of Barbara Allen's a brier.
(Wyman)
Only one text has the addltional stanzas similar to the Ohild A version of Lord Lovel (Ohild 75 A):
And Barbara's mother stood around the place
She longed the girl's name for to save;
She pulled a root from the red, red, rose,
And set it on Barbara's grave.
(Haun)
One text clOses with an announcement of the funeral.
Now those two, those two are dead,
Thelr parents grieve but no ,
Their funeral w1ll be preached tomorrow.
(Davis L)
Stanzas describing the burial place, show little varia-
________________________
tlon in wording. If Barbara and the young man are buried in separate
places one is usually buried ln the churchyard.. w.. AAD!.
new, upper, east, yon, high are desoriptive. u.ed. In two texts
(Cox It Morris c) the I,n,t, Ohurchyard i. the burl.1 place. and
1n Davia Ditis a md churoh, .. rd. The other lover, the young
man If rhyme 18 retalne4, 18 buried "anigh her." Oorruptlons of
the phr .... are common. they include "attire- (Davis I); "next to
the aho1rlt (Davis D), "On top of Ohio" (Dav1sE), -1n the asylum(
Korri. D), "on th. morrow· (Davi. B), "1n the squier" (Belden K),
and "by the Baptist wtlU" (Ana.raoll ft ••
Plaoe name are lncludedln:
He was buried in Edmondton.e
And she was buried in 0014 Harbor.
(Sharp 100)
Frequently the lOVeI'll aH burled. ald. beside and occasionally in the same grave:
They both were buried all in one grave;
And that was her desire.
(Greenleaf)
They ",uole tn.m both to the Van Ca:thelll0 Church.
(Scarborough B)
The red ro •• and the brier are the plants almost universally
growing trom their grav... A tew exceptions aref "L1ly
white rose (Anderson It Perrow[Al,Randolph A), "leaf" (Davis X),
"White rose" (Morris D), "milk-white rose" (Morrls A).
____________________________
A vine is planted in one version:
They placed 'em in the old churchyard.
Beneath the old ohuroh tenter.
An' there they plant.ed a true lover· s vine.
For. all fond hearts to admire. (Randolph It)
Birds are substituted in one text:
On William's ... turtle dove,
On Barbara's... a sparrow.
The turtle dove 18 the sten of love,
The sparrow __ tor lorrow f
(Sharp D)
Barbara's last request in one text is:
And on my 'breast place a mournful dove,
To prove t.o the world % 4184 . b love.
(Davls H)
Ollaraoteri.tlcs der1ved froa p:rln.t usually retaIn the
woP41ng of the ori.g1naJ..or the tena exam1ned whIch approximate
Percy'. "English- text, the vord J£1Dl:ti 18 retaIned. In all but
flve "xta in the l1ne.
And death 1. printed on your taoe.
The word is Ohanged to painted in four of theee-Kincaid.
Thomae [B J. Brown D. ThomptOl'l·. Written is the word
in Neal's text.
Thirteen traditlonal texts not so closely related to
print X"$tain this stan... In :tlve of these (Crabtree OJ Brewster
B.F, Mason and Neely) the word painted is found. Slight variations
are found only ,in the following:
________________________________________
Death is printed on his lips.
(MacIntosh B, Belden 0)
I see death printed all in your race.
(Davis S)
For death is pictured on your brow (Eddy A)
The "warning to all virgins" stanza remains intact in
most of the traditional text, whioh retain it. A .alight variation
1s found in:
Come young and old both great and small,
And shun the fault I fell In.
(MacKenzie C)
An examinatlon or minor ohanges in wording ebow that
frequently a misunderetanding Of the meaning is responible for the change, When .. word bas been dropped from the language it
may be retained in a ballad but as its meaning becomes obscure to
the singer he may substitute one whiCh hila a meaning for him. In
the line TrOll the English texts-- both Percy's and the Roxburghe ballad--
And all bel' friends cried out amain,
the word "amain" has been reta1ned in moat texts but some singers have ohanged It to "Amen" (Davis N, Oox F. Oobb, Brown D), "amazed" (Anderson I). "For shame" (Rawn, Mackenzie, Adventure [A], Cox C, Greenlief), "again" (Brewster E), "In a moan" (Scarborough I), "a mine," (Eddy C).
_______________________________158__________________
Percy's line,
Made every youth cry wel-awaye,
1s usually found intact in the near print texts that retain it, but the word "-D'Alt. whlch seems to be 'eroy' a corruption of
!'llIWil haa been Ohanged to "well aware" (Brown D). "wail awayu
(Smith A) * "well-a-day" (Oamblare. Thomas [a J. Raine, Scarborough
D).
Another source of minor change seems to be a "law of
contradictions" whIch prompts singers to introduoe details whioh
are opposite to those they have heard.
Barbara asks her mother to make her bed "soft" and narrow,
one singer changes it to "hard and narrow" (Davie 0). The
reaction of Barbara to the sight ot the corpse is either laughter
or tears; the servant is sent to the "town" where Barbara is dwelling, but in Davis F, he is sent to the "country." Barbara
goes "slowly" to her lover, but as we have seen, in a few texts
she goes "quickly." It the "old" churchyard is the usual burial place
when the rose- brier end1ng is added to the ballad, texts can be
found in which one of the lovers is burled in the "new" ohurohyard.
The usual red growing from one grave is replaced only by a white rose-- never by a rose of another color. The
young man is usually from the "west country" but other points of the compass are used., east (Soarborough E), north (Duncan A).
_______________________
Barbara usually looks to the "east" and "west" when she sees the corpse, but in one text she looked to the "south"
(Anderson D).
It the story usually begins 1n the pleasant or merry month of May, one text reverses this:
One cold and cloudy day in the month of May.
(Sharp 0)
Perhaps the most unusual transformation of the text is the change of sex of Bar'bry Allen. In Perrow B the law of oontradiction is oarried to an extreme. Exoept tor this shift, however, it is a normal text of e1ght stanzas beginning 1n the month of May. A stansa wl11 illustrate the ehange,
Slowly, slowly he get up
So slowly, slowly he did go,
And when be got there he said, "near g1rl,
I'm sure you must be dying.
The same shift of sex occurs in a fragment sung by a
negro woman 1n Texas:
When I wais a g1rl sixteen.
I wais 1n love with Boberiok.
De othah girls did not see
Why he did always follow me,
He walk to town an' den right back,
To see if I nis on his track.
But he oould never flnt mo dah,
Becuz I vas away somewhah.
His name wais Boberick Allen,
(Bales)
________________________________
It is difficult to see how this fragment is related to the ballad. It seems to have borrowed nothing but the name.
__________________161_________________
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION
It baa been the purpose of this thesis to examine all available materlal on the ballad "Barbara Allen," (Child 84).
with a view to establishing the origin, history and destiny of this ballad.
The esteem in which this ballad is held 1s still unquestioned. It is seen to be the most popular ballad tn English and the best known ballad by all classes of folk singers, throughout moat or the English-speaking world.
The dichotomy of the "English" and "Scotch" printed versions hal been investigated and it has been demonstrated that the "English" was in print first, that the "Scotch" version which appeared in 1740 in two separate works, has been prlnted 1n more literary anthologies than any other text o£ the ballad but that this version is relatively unknown in trad1tion except 1n versions which follow closely the printed text or show evidence of padding by hack writers for print. James Oawald. baa been
suggested as the possible author of this text Which shows evidence of literary reworking.
___________________________________
Hendren's statement that the "Scotch" version is found frequently in England and Amerlca whereas the English version is seldom found in Scotland, beoomes meaningless when we see that the "Scotoh" text has not been found in tradition, even in Scotland, exoept as it is closely related to print, and that a text which cloely follows Peroy's "English versIon has been found even in Sootland.
The arguments of priority from the border names Allan and Allen become meaningless, also, when it is shown that in the
earliest printed versions, the man was a nameless youngman and that the English still cling to Barbara Ellen as tbe name of
their heroine. Nor has the statement that the Scotch claim this as a "Scotoh" ballad been corroborated. The reverse would seem to be the case since "Barbara Allen" was not Included 1n the pr1nted
oollections of Scott or Motherwell although texts were available to the collectors.
From the v1gor of the American versions the story emerges as the folk prefer It--simple in 1ts dramatic appeal, devoid of the pathos of hysterical laughter and inappropriate bequests of blood and tears and valuables. It is the story of
Barbara Allen. whose wounded van1ty causes her to refuse her
lover though she believes he will die. It is Barbara's story;
she is the center of the stage from the time she goes slowly to
_________________________________163_________________
his bedside unt1l she takes her place 1n the churchyard with the brier growing out of her grave to cling to the rose whioh has
grown from his.
Editors of anthologies and song books today continue to
print Ramsay's "scotch" or Percy's "English" version. The people
will probably lear the .ong from one of tbe good recordings of
folk mualc or from folk singers on radio or television and in
these forms the song will live while the anthologies gather dust on library shelves.