The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century . e views ofthe two on ballad style. Gray in his letters, says ofTickells writing, Tickell has added to this a greatpoverty of sense, and a string of transitions that hardlybecome a school-boy. However, I forgive him for the sakeof his ballad, which I always thought ^the prettiest inthe world* This was the ballad of Colin and Lucy, ofwhich Goldsmith says, Through suLl Tickells works thereis a strain of ballad-thinking, if I may so express it;and in this professed ballad he seems to have surpassed . himself. It is, perhaps, the best in our langua
The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century . e views ofthe two on ballad style. Gray in his letters, says ofTickells writing, Tickell has added to this a greatpoverty of sense, and a string of transitions that hardlybecome a school-boy. However, I forgive him for the sakeof his ballad, which I always thought ^the prettiest inthe world* This was the ballad of Colin and Lucy, ofwhich Goldsmith says, Through suLl Tickells works thereis a strain of ballad-thinking, if I may so express it;and in this professed ballad he seems to have surpassed . himself. It is, perhaps, the best in our language inthis way. Gray was an admirer of ballad poetry. In a letterto Rev. William Mason he says, I wisn you were here, forI am tired of writing such stuff, and besides I have gotthe old Scotch ballad (Child Maurice) on which Douglaswas founded; it is divine, and as long as from here to —0000— 1. Ibid. Vol. XII. To Countess of Upper Ossory, July, 1774. 2. Grays Letters - Edited by E. Gosse. Vol. E, p. 219. 3. Goldsmiths Essays. Vol. Ill, p. -47- Aaton. Have you never seen it? Aristotles best rules are observed in it in a manner that shows the author never had heard of Aristotle. You may read it two-thircLs through without guessing what it is aoout; and yet, when you oome to the end, it is impossible not to understand the whole 1 story. I send you the two first verses. Here followfifteen lines of the poem. In his Essay on Rhyme, Grayspeaks of reading the MJ S. collection of Percy, but makesno comment on it. From these comments, we feel that hewas a lover of ballads, not of artificial ballad-making,but of the folk ballad. We have spoken before of Goldsmiths criticism ofTickells Colin and Lucy. He himself introduces a balladinto the Vicar of Wakefield. This one is not an originalone, out is partially a paraphrase of the Gentle Herdsman,Tell to Me, foimd in the Kelictues. In the conversationwhich precedes the reading of this ballad, there has beena difference of opinion rega
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttheses, bookyear1911
