The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century . ity of the author is the diction, which isspontaneous, simple, and close to actual life. Certainphrases and figurative expressions, such as simple similesand metaphors, seem common to nearly all ballads. Exampleswhich might be multiplied indefini-uely, are : the red,red blood;the good grey steed; milk v/hite hand;tv/elve month and a day; Hes ta*en out the little pen-knife (to slay his enemy)• Morley in his Introduction to Llacaulays Laysof iincient Rome says of ballad characteristics, In aballad there are no complexities. It is a tale to becha
The rise of the ballad in the eighteenth century . ity of the author is the diction, which isspontaneous, simple, and close to actual life. Certainphrases and figurative expressions, such as simple similesand metaphors, seem common to nearly all ballads. Exampleswhich might be multiplied indefini-uely, are : the red,red blood;the good grey steed; milk v/hite hand;tv/elve month and a day; Hes ta*en out the little pen-knife (to slay his enemy)• Morley in his Introduction to Llacaulays Laysof iincient Rome says of ballad characteristics, In aballad there are no complexities. It is a tale to bechanted to the people, ^Tith ease in its rhyiihm, actionin every line, and through its whole plan a stirring incidentshown clearly from one point of view. It is a tale welltold, without any pauses for a nice adjustment of opinion,Dut appealing simply and directly to a feeling common tous all. .Yith simplicity of diction, we find simplicityof plot, and a direct method of beginning the latter characteristic is commented on by Jolinson. in oriticizinij ono of Cirays odes which has an ahruptbeginning, His ode has been celehrated for its abrupt-ness and plunging into the subject all at once. Butsuch arts as these have no merit, unless when We admire them only once, and this abruptnesshas nothing new in it. V/e have had it often , we have had it in the old song of Johnny .j^rmstrong:Is there ever a man in all ScotlandFrom the highest estate to the lowest degree, then. Sir, Yes, there is a man in Westmoreland,And Johnny Armstrong they do him now, you plunge at once into the ^ The ballad singer expected an unhesitatingbelief for all his statements. If fifteen stalwart knavesare slain by one knight, single handed, the singer nevergoes out of his way to prove the possibility of such anachievment by appealing to the exploits of some otheresLually brave manslayer. ilnother frequent characteristic is the incre-mental rep
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecttheses, bookyear1911
