Singers and Storytellers Page: 44
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SINGERS AND STORYTELLERS
panorama. Ballad and folk narrative in general give the scenes
only, without the connective tissue, but this does not mean that
the ballad lacks the fluidity all narrative must have; it gets
this running quality by the skilful use of repetition, and espe-
cially incremental repetition. Note in the following the concrete
pictures, with the running action suggested by the repetition:
They had not been a week from her
A week but barely ane
When word came to the carlin wife
That her three sons were gane
They had not been a week from her
A week but barely three
When word came to the carlin wife
That her sons she'd never see.
Finally, the ballad, like all traditional narrative, carries the
quality of archaism, cultural lag, a looking back. This shows
itself in subject matter, in attitude, in character relation, and
in style. So an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century ballad may
have carried down elements, such as blood brotherhood,
matriarchy, fairies, magic gardens, seal folk, palmers. Often in
the same ballad widely disparate elements exist side by side-
heaven, hell, and fairyland; pindars and palmers; animism and
materialism. But two opposite tendencies work here; along
with the tendency to preserve the past is also a tendency to
adapt it or supplant it. Sometimes one wins out, sometimes the
other, and the result is the patchwork we are so familiar with
in balladry. And it is the same kind of patchwork that is found
in other folk products.
My point then is: Now that ballad scholars have pretty well
done the textual spade work, our next task is the consideration
of the ballad from an aesthetic point of view, recognizing that
the ballad is a work of art and that the art of the ballad is
different in quality from that of the poetry of record. When
that task is complete, then, and only then, can we profitably44
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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/m1/50/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.