Page:Old English ballads by Francis Barton Gummere (1894).djvu/96

xc xc INTRODUCTION, song, we are at least justified in claiming the refrain, whether for its origin or for its functions in the ballad, as a distinctly communal matter. It is almost the only rudiment of primitive choral poetry^ surviving to our day; and it has come down to us as companion of the ballad and the dance. As the throng must find larger and larger sway in times more and more primitive, so, as we approach those times, the refrain loses its air of service and speaks with more masterful accent, the central fact of the ballad. Song, dance, and refrain have led us towards the primitive throng and away from the modern artist. There is, however, another element which seems to make for communal origins, — the element of spontaneity and rapid improvisation by members of a throng. Early verse was of a momentary and occasional character. Plan and design come with the artist; planless, spontaneous poetry, offspring of the instant and of the need for expression, is likely to be the product of a throng. The tracks of thought are sure to diverge; but the impression ' of a moment may have one form in many minds, and find vent in one and the same outcry. To review the facts, one finds improvisation dominant in all poetry of the people. In certain parts of Scandi- navia it is still usual for nearly every one of the community to sing at call a quatrain of his own making, or at least a variation of some traditional stanza. These to ballads as to such a verse as Coleridge's " Upon his shield a burning brand," — *' la po^sie ne consiste pas ^ tout dire, mais ^ tout faire rever." 1 Lack of space foj-bids the evident references to religious ceremo- nies and primitive worship generally. We know that the refrain rang out as Germanic warriors marched to fight: " Sang uuas gisungan, Uuig uuas bigunnan," says the Ludwigsliedy Miillenhoif- Scherer, Denkmdlery No. xi, v. 48 f. See also Miillenhoff, de antiq. German, poesi choricay Kiel, 1847. Digitized by LjOOQIC