Singers and Storytellers Page: 40
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SINGERS AND STORYTELLERS
basic quality would, I think, reveal the following five primary
components: (1) understatement, (2) use of formula, (3)
presentation of the material through concreteness and specifics,
(4) translation of idea and emotion into action, and (5) con-
servatism, the key to selection. Let us briefly examine these
five elements.
Understatement: the ballad tells its story always with a
supreme understatement, lack of emphasis, level reporting,
matter-of-factness:
She's taen her by the milk-white hand
And led her down to youn sea stran
The youngest stood upon a stane
The eldest came and threw her in.
And again:
It's whether ye will be a rank robber's wife
Or will ye die by my wee pen knife
It's not I'll be a rank robber's wife
But I'd rather die by your wee pen knife
He's stabbed that may and he's laid her by
For to bear the red rose company.
Note that understatement is a common characteristic of
folk language and folktale as well as folksong. You may ask
a Newfoundland fisherman, "Will you have some more fish
and potatoes?" and get the answer, "Just a sign." By that he
means, "Yes, another plateful." And should you ask him, "Could
you use a pull of screech [rum]?" you would certainly get the
answer, "Just a nibble." And the nibble, of course, is a good
half-pint, swallowed without taking the bottle from his lips.
Similar parallels can be shown for the second element:
formula. Folk experience and observation fossilize into formula,
not only into proverb but into phrases, figures, and customary
combinations of words. The ballad builds with these formulas.
We thrill to the beauty and the inevitable phrasing of the stanza
from "Sir Patrick Spens":40
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/46/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.