Chapter 18 Ballads and their authors (2)

Laugh with me when I am happy, share my worries when I am troubled, comfort me when I am sad, chat with me in my spare time, cry with me when I am sad, advise me when I am in doubt, and be my reliance when I am afraid—what my book gives me All of these things bring me more encouragement, trust and joy than human beings.So I would be ashamed of a human being if I did not love and feel eternal gratitude for these comforters. Judge Methuen once read me a little poem, which I liked very much, called "Winferida."You can find it in your Percy, if you have this set too.As I recall, the last subsection is this:

When people are jealous, they are always crazy Thinking about our happiness being stripped away You'll go back to your girl for love I will also go after the phoenix among the boys "Who is the author of these lines?" Methuen asked. "It must be Oliver Wendell Holmes [Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), American physician and writer, professor of anatomy and physiology The most famous of them is "The Dictator at the Breakfast Table".]" I said, "Our 'dictator' has such a unique flavor, and only his old man can write it in such a weird and interesting little poem. So much sweetness and tenderness packed into the bundle."

"You're wrong," Methuen said, "that it's a song of nature, not of man. The whole poem is a work that Holmes may have written, but It was there long before our dear doctor wrote it: it is a pity that its original author is unknown." "But why regret it?" I asked. "Isn't it true that words are the only things that live forever? We are all mortal, and books are immortal. Isn't it so? Homer's harp has The bones are dead, Horace's lyre is dead, and the voices of these great singers have long since died, but their ballads—their ballads are immortal. O friend! What submitted it to They or we, and we adjudicate this epic or that ballad to be immortal? The singer always belongs to a certain age, but the song to all ages. I know it is customary nowadays to attribute the work to the author .This is an era of utilitarianism, everything is priced by the catty.

"So, when a song is printed, it's always in small font, and the songwriter's name attached to it is always in big font. If the song itself has any value, it's embalmed by painting it with art. The artistic medium of the agent is spread to the corners of the world. As it travels longer and farther away, the font of the ballad becomes larger and the name of the author becomes smaller and smaller. "Eventually, with the flick of a pen or scissors by some less considerate hand, the poet's name is blotted out or cut out, and the ballad is henceforth anonymous. The great iconoclast (a a noble and ancient iconoclast) is 'time'. But the iconoclast is not terrible for those precious things which will be preserved in words forever. In the last sudden doom Before, there was only one guy who could escape unharmed, and that guy was the famous 'Anonymous'!"

"You're right," said Methuen, "but if it's just the order of things, it's different. I can also kill a poet's poetry and make him live forever." I'm not at all surprised by the constant backlash between Ritson and Percy.It's really unfortunate for Ritson that he picks everyone up.In fact, Ritson is a cautious and honest man.His honesty was so blunt and firm that it made everyone tell the truth, even if such a truth would make even the hard cheeks of the villains blush with shame. On the other hand, Percy believed that certain facts should not be exposed in broad daylight.It was such a deep-rooted belief that he refused to publish the folio manuscript.It was a priceless treasure that Ritson had never seen before, and if Ritson (not Percy) got his hands on it, it would be in the hands of a printer in the blink of an eye.

How lucky we are to have Francis James Child [Child (1825-1896), American scholar and educator. Graduated from Harvard University in 1846, he has made outstanding contributions in many different disciplines. 】Such a great scholar, so obsessed with folk songs, and has such a profound study of them, perfecting the works of the predecessors.With what happiness I have heard some of the rarest and noblest old British and Scotch ballads from the mouth of this zealot.I recall with great pride that he praised my lively singing, when I performed "Miss Isabel and Mr. Patrick," "Lan John Moore," "Duke Gordon's Daughter," and two or three other famous Ballads, I learned them all when I was at school in the North of England.

Having extolled Robin Hood, Scott, Kirkpatrick Sharp, Ritson, Buchan, Motherwell, Lane, Christie, Jamieson, and other notable folk lovers and editors, we can start talking about French Ballad, about Francis Mahoney [Francis Sylvester Mahoney (1804-1866), Irish clergyman and poet.The "Father Prout" mentioned many times in this book is actually a pseudonym of his. ]—his pioneering French and Italian lyrical ballads, performing for English speakers those ballads of such a style and incomparable that we can now appreciate them as well as anyone else. Dear old Beranger [Pierre Jean Beranger (1780-1857), French poet and singer, Mahony once called "the arbiter of French ballads". 】!How strange that Prout liked him too, how strange that we all liked him!I have more than thirty different editions of his works, and I am willing to travel farther for a volume of his ballads than for any other book (except Horace).Belanger and I are old friends.I have a peculiar tenderness and affection for the master, all because of Van Chenet.

But—surely you don't know anything about Fanchenette, because I haven't told you about her yet.She should also be a book, not a dessert [In French, a van chenette is a small cake or tart topped with meringue. 】.She is the alluring and charming Gallic girl.