Barbara Allen in Tradition and in Print

200 Pages·2013·12.87 MB·English

by  Mary Athanasius Riley

LLooyyoollaa UUnniivveerrssiittyy CChhiiccaaggoo
LLooyyoollaa eeCCoommmmoonnss
Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations
1957
BBaarrbbaarraa AAlllleenn iinn TTrraaddiittiioonn aanndd iinn PPrriinntt
Mary Athanasius Riley
Loyola University Chicago
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Copyright © 1957 Mary Athanasius Riley
"BAHBARA ALLFn" IN TFUJ)ITION
.AND IN PRIllT
•
by
Sister Ma.ry Athtmaslua Riley. B.V.11.
It. Thesis Submitted to the Fs,oulty of .the Gra.duate School
of Loyo1a U'n1vers1ty in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
)rlaster of Arts
January
1957
:tIFF.:
Sister ?'ts,ry Athnnasius Riley. B. V. M., was born in
E,,:1ra., Iowa. • February 3, 1909.
She W8,S gra.o..uD,ted from Oreston Hl~h School, Oreston,
low!!, ;,1(l.Y, 1927, and. from 't{rundeleln College, Ohici':'I,Go, Illinois,
June, 1932 ~.vlth the degree of B~chelor of' Arts.
The a,11tho!' ent.ered the novitiate of the Sistere of'
Charity of t,he Blessed Virgin i,fie.,ry, Dubuque, Ioyta in Septembt1l",
193L!.. Since her profession ahe has taught chiefly English, in
the schools of her community, in Colorado, Iowa, California,
I'iebrnskn. and. Illinois.
She begE!.n her grs(lu.Ate studies at Loyola University
in the of 1952.
s~~mer
PerloCllcnls in whieh the a.uthorta poems nppet:tr In-
c11.1('1& Con'H!l.On't1eab, £l!2~r*~, B.nd !tvrlce.l~. T"ro of her poems
ht~.ve been reprinted in anthologies: "Truth and Beaut~r f» in
lmthoJ.ot;y .2t f~AZine Y!fll for 1938-1942 edited by Alan Pe~ter,
New York, 191!2; tmd ttMed.lts,tion on Time, 1n Joyce Ailmer'ra
U
A.nth()j.Of;;Y 2.t 21};tt1011c l:get~h ecli ted by Janos E. Tobin, :New York,
111
PREFACE
The study of a. bo.llct<:1 a.s prolific as "Barbara, Allen"
involves the handling of a. gran.ter bulk of material tlu;m would
ordinnril;r be dealt with in master' e thesis. Conclusions, to
$,
be vnlid must be bt;tsed.on an investigation of all Etvails.ble
t
material.
Some deviations from the usual methods of handling
ma,terial in the field of English hnve been found expedient
because of the special nature of the problem.
the practice used in other ballad studies.
Follo~tinb
v~u·j.e"nts are referred to by the name of the editor nnd the let
ter used by him to desie.,ne,te the text, or a. letter wl11 1)6 ns
sit:nec1 by the author in the al)sence of such designe.tlon. These
references w11l be pl!,l,ced in the text. thus dispensinG ",1th foot
notes for each reference.
8pec1.al thanks I!)\,re d.ue to Dr. Nev1l1e for her
!'i~,rle
helpful interest in this project.
lv
TAPU: 0 F conTENTS
Chnpter Page
I" INTRODUCTION"",..........." • .. • .. • .. .. 1
Antiquarian interest in the bB.llad exempl1t'led
by Pepys--Rome.ntl0 interest exemplified by Gold ...
smith. ..... Bypaths 1n the h1story of the ballad-
Theories about the ballad--Previous studies-
Statement of objectives.
II. "BARBARA ALLEN" AS SEEN BY THE CRITICS AND BY THE
PEOPLE • .. • • • .. " .. .. .. 13
I " .. .. .. • " • .. • ..
\fide dissemlne.tlon-Sce.rcity of valid critioism-
Impressionistic qua.lity of much cr1ticism of the
ballad--Te.stlmony of be,l1nd· a populari ty--Reaaons
for popularlty--Furtber justifioation of the
study.
III. ttBARBAHA ALLF,f.{" IN PRIN'r .. .. •• " • .. ,. .. .. .. .. 40
HIstory of the ballad in prlnt--Demonstration
of the prior1ty of the "English" verslon--Crit
leal opinion a.bout rela.tionship of Ji:ngliah and.
Scottish ballnds. ... ,.. . Ja.mea Oswald. the poss1ble
author of the "Scotch" veralon--The ballad 1n
brondslc1.es .... -Sie;n.1f'1co.l1t printed taxts of the
ballad.
IV. THE VARIANTS OF' "BARBARA ALLEN" 71
!II • .. !II • • • •
TradItional texts closely related to print-
Tabulation of oharactel"lstlcs of the texts
unrelated to prlnt--SUmrnary or results of
tabulatlon--Comparlson of texts given by rnem
b$rs of' the SflJlle fe.rnl1y and from same 100alit y "
V,. MINOR VARIATIONS IN TH!: BALLAD 106
!II • • • • !II • ..
Varintions in word,lng discussed in detail with
t
examples--Demonstra.tlon of possible priority of
v
vi
n8.rIl.f1 I";arbnra It':11en--Chtl!''s,ctcrist1cs borrowt:ld
from other of contra,dictions"
b~11t"c1Q--l~;ti
VI. CONCLUSION 162
it .... ." .... • • • " " " " " • " • "
The universal t:lsteem of. the ballad unquestloned.-
*
Hendren S Guess answered--The ba.llat1 as evidence
of folk preference--Separa.tlon of pr1nt ane 11v
ins trad1t1on. .. -Pred1ctlon for the future of the
b!>,,11ad. • . . . .
PIBLIOGRAPHY " " " " " " " • •• • « • " " "
a. "
C!IAPTEn I
'l'he foundinG of the Societ.y of Antiqu!u':'16s in 1572
\,{8.S
the culmin(ltion of the incres.sine preoccupp,tion with the pnst
':,11ic11 "ms to continue to crow crcet1y in scope durinc the next
lIustvcdt believes thc,t PepJrs· interest in popule.r
vlas l(',reely due to this preoccupB,tlon with t),ntic;ui tics.
~~nllnds
in 1666 is certainly the ;;lOst quoted of his COl7Enents D,n(: is
peculio.r1y lntercstir.c from our !)opular point of view. u3
It
Hustvedt vfOuld plnce PE'mvs "on the borderlnnd tet'>1elim the h1s-
,,," .1
4
torian nne1 t"'f n::lt:t c:up,rlen u in his cnt[m8ins~:1 for the l'(!.11n(1, •
The second reference to the l'a11ad occurs in 1759 r;ihen
GolctSr:1ith pu1-::1ished tlje first of the impressionistic COnlL"l1Cnts on
1 Slcnrc1 ;'crnhB.rd Hustvcdt. D~11D.d Crltlcimn in
nccnc;in",vj.p, and Grcgt durin,'"": Century,
I~rltain ~ E~Fhteenth
London, 1916, 36.
2 Se-muel Pep~'s. The Diary Qf Snmuel Penys. eel. Henry
ley-, London 1898 tV, 175.
~:':. V.rl1E~e,t t
3 Huotvedt, raIle-a Criticism, 36.
4 1.l1.Q...
1
S
"Barbara Allen" which hnve ohnre"oterized l"eferenoes to it since .. ~
The fe.ot tl'18.t Goldsnlth beoa.rne aoquainted with Percy durinG the
6
preoed1nG yetlr ma,y throw some l1r;ht on Gold.$m1th· 8 reoollection.
However, his comment antedates Percy· s 1l§~1q1Jii§ by e1x years.
We do not know 'tlha,t version of the balled wa.$ kno'tm to
Pepys under the title ttBa.rbary Allen," or to Goldsmith as It~rhe
Cru,elty of Bs.rbE:".ra. Allen. The latter title resembles the broa.c1.
tt
side tltle ftBr:.trba.ra Allen' sCruelty."1
The problem of determining the time anci, pln.ce of the
origin of this ballad 1s difficult if not imposs1ble, but oome
fe.cts be assumed. 'rhere is strong presu.n:rptive 9v1(;'ence that
C(L"l
tlBal"bnra Allentt oric1nated. in the British Isles, for althOUGh it
1s the !:'lost prolific balla.Q. 1.n most parts of the E:n(,11r1h-epen.king
vlorld, no trace of it can be fo'tmd in any other langue.ge e,.:cept
8
for a. fe,,, lc.te li tero.ry tra.nala.tions mentioned by Child"
5 Oliver C!'olc1emlth, "Ha.ppiness, In n. Grec.t Has,sure,
Dependant on Constitution," The :Bee, II, October 13. 1759,t; 51-52:
The, ~ .Q.f Ol1ver 99Jedgmil::b. ed. J .\'l.!~. Gibbs, London.lo84-1D86
IIt~
7 See Cha.pter III of this thesis for a discussion of
printed versions of the ballt!,d.
8 torn.ncis James Child, The Enp;11gb ~ Scottl§h
PODulGr. B9vJ.l~~1. NOli York, 1886, II, 279.
3
The origin of the ballad is 1::ut one aspect of this
study, however, for as C" Alphonso Smith has 80tl:; pointed out,
there is no standard version of a ballad. The surviving ballads
are not a.Irend;;, made cut are in the making.
As long as a ballad circulates by oral tr~nsmlssion it is
alwB.ys in process of making or remaking. The first version,
if we could cs,tch it hot from the lips of the composing
throng;, would not through mere priority, one wrli t more
J t'€
authentic than the IB.test version, provided the la.test
9
version was also the product of the people.
In the same vein. Hustvedt remarks that A ~Al1p~ "ts not
stifled out by the mere circumstance of being put down on paper.
tfhe folk ma.y continue to recite 1 t; the student and the reader
gain the opportunity of knowing it as 1 t at the 1 twas
WB.S ~noment
HIO
recorded 1n writing.
If the printed text could a.lwa,y s be considered a record
of the t'a.llad 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
edltore. Hustvedt says thn.t early nineteenth century editors
9 C. Alphonso Smith, "Ballflds Surviv1ne" in the United
States," l\lusict\l.l (:'kuarterly, London. 1916, II, 120.
10 S1p;urd:~ernhard Hustvedt, 1:el18.0 Fooks ~ ?o.llad
lifn, Camtridge Ma.ssacbuset ts, 1930, 233.
J
from Scott Ja.mieson down "were more or l€ss thorouGhl:,' com-
td1d
mltted to the principle of shl=l.p1nc s., text &.ccorclnr; to their own
tl11
devices.
This reshaping may indeed have produced better poetry
'tut in the process the true ballad has been obscured. Such
edited balla.ds have frequently reentered trad! tion in the1r
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
1nteresting bypa,the. Dolph says that the song was well known in
Colonltl1,l k'nerica and that the tune was borrowed for ttSere:eant
Ohampa, a long ballad a.bout an unsucoessful attempt to k1dns,p
It
- 12
General Benedict Arnold., Dorothy Scarborough mentions a, song on
the assasslns.tion of Governor Willla,m Goebel of Kentucky, com
.,'3
posed by a. mountaineer to the tune of "Ba.rba.ra Allen • A para.-
phrs"se of the first four verses, "11"'1 t ten in 1752 by Slr Robert
11 Hustvedt, Ballad Crttic1sm, 11.
12 Edward Arthur Dolph, Sound Orf! New York, 1949, 49.
13 Dorothy Scarborough, Song Ce.t C1ler in .!Jl§. Southern
lviountain§. New York, 1937. 83.