Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/253

 THE JOURNAL OF

AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

Vol. XII. — OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1899.— No. XLVII.

��EARLY AMERICAN BALLADS.

Owing to the recency of collection, the history of old English bal- lads is conjectural. At the time when ballads were first issued in the form of broadsides, printed in black letter, literary taste had already outgrown this species of composition. While many fine old ballads were thus circulated, the greater number of those supplied by the press were of new invention, and characterized by a puerility of rhythm and expression, in sad contrast with the music and tragic force of the ancient compositions. In the remoter parts of Great Britain histories continued to be cast into ballad form, generally with the result of offering a very prosaic and degenerate form of verse. There are no direct means of determining the time at which the taste of refined persons turned to a more sophisticated kind of poetry, and at which, consequently, the popular ballad, left to the mercy of the less educated and thoughtful part of the community, became a survival instead of a living art. In accordance with data offered by the ballads of Denmark, where collection was earlier and fuller, one might guess that this change took place about the end of the four- teenth century, and that most, if not all, of the extant English narra- tive songs which possess much literary merit belong to an earlier date. At a later time, the persistency of tradition still maintained among the people the ancient treasure.

During the sixteenth and succeeding centuries, however, the pro- duction of popular ballads by no means ceased ; such songs continued to be made in numbers. But these were inferior in excellence, even when corresponding in theme ; the decline is readily accounted for by the consideration that the authors were now men of the people in contrast to men of letters, whereas in the earlier period the best minds had so occupied themselves. In place of the kings and great lords, whose fortunes had made the theme of the early songs, the hero might be a captain or a major, the heroine a farmer's daughter ; the scope and dignity of the story suffered reduction. Of these later narrations, many were brought over to the New World, and

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