Lady Alice

Last updated

Lady Alice is Child ballad 85. [1] It may be a fragment of a longer ballad that has not been preserved. [2]

Contents

Synopsis

Lady Alice sees a corpse being carried by and is told it is her lover. She asks the bearers to leave the corpse, saying that she herself will be dead by sundown the next day. The two are buried apart, but roses from his grave grow to reach her breast, only to be severed by a passing priest. [2]

Variants

Lord Lovel , Child ballad 75, uses equivalent themes. [3]

Commentary

The entwined flowers appear also in Barbara Allen , Lord Thomas and Fair Annet , and Fair Margaret and Sweet William .

Related Research Articles

Matty Groves Traditional English ballad

"Matty Groves", also known as "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" or "Little Musgrave", is a ballad probably originating in Northern England that describes an adulterous tryst between a young man and a noblewoman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. It is listed as Child ballad number 81 and number 52 in the Roud Folk Song Index This song exists in many textual variants and has several variant names. The song dates to at least 1613, and under the title Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard is one of the Child ballads collected by 19th-century American scholar Francis James Child.

"The Elfin Knight" is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, the US, and Canada. As is the case with most traditional folk songs, there have been countless completely different versions recorded of the same ballad. The first broadside version was printed before 1674, and the roots of the song may be considerably older.

"Hind Etin" is a folk ballad existing in several variants.

Fair Annie is Child ballad number 62, existing in several variants.

"Prince Robert", also known as "Lord Abore and Mary Flynn", is Child ballad number 87, existing in several variants, and a murder ballad.

Lord Thomas and Fair Annet Traditional song

Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, also known as Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor, is an English folk ballad.

Child Waters is Child ballad number 63, existing in several variants.

"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, of whom either one or both die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his folio and said that it was quoted as early as 1611 in the Knight of the Burning Pestle. In the United States, variations of Fair Margaret have been regarded as folk song as early as 1823.

"The Fair Flower of Northumberland" is a folk ballad.

Fair Janet is Child Ballad number 64.

Lord Lovel is number 75 of the ballads anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century, and exists in several variants. This ballad is originally from England, originating in the Late Middle Ages, with the oldest known versions being found in the regions of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Wiltshire.

"Gil Brenton" is Child ballad 5, Roud 22, existing in several variants.

Erlinton is #8 of the Child Ballads, the collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. The collection was published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882 and 1898 by Houghton Mifflin in ten volumes and later reissued in a five volume edition.

"Earl Brand" is a pseudo-historical English ballad.

"Young Andrew" is a folk song catalogued as Child ballad 48.

Sweet William's Ghost is an English Ballad and folk song which exists in many lyrical variations and musical arrangements. Early known printings of the song include Allan Ramsay's The Tea-Table Miscellany in 1740 and Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry in 1765. Percy believed that the last two stanzas of the version he published were later additions, but that the details of the story they recounted were original.

"Lizie Wan" is Child ballad 51 and a murder ballad. It is also known as "Fair Lizzie".

Fair Mary of Wallington or Fair Lady of Wallington is Child ballad 91 and number 59 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Child lists at least seven variants of the ballad. The first variant is titled "Fair Mary of Wallington", while another variant is titled "The Bonny Early of Livingston".

Lady Diamond is Child ballad 269, existing in several variants. The story is derived from that of Ghismonda and Guiscardo from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio.

Tom Potts is #109 of the Child Ballads, the collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century. The collection was published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882 and 1898 by Houghton Mifflin in ten volumes and later reissued in a five volume edition.

References

  1. Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Lady Alice"
  2. 1 2 Waltz, Robert B.; Engle, David G. (2017). "Lady Alice". Folklore The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. California State University, Fresno . Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  3. Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 279, Dover Publications, New York 1965