The Bold Soldier of Yarrow

IN an earlier study of the ballads1 we posed three things of interest for the understanding of the processes of popular balladry. First, by analyzing the text of a Catskill version, The Dewy, Dewy Dens of Yarrow, as sung by the late George Edwards, we indicated the essential identity of the two ballad strains classified by Child, The Braes of Yarrow (No. 214) and Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow (No. 215). Second, we emphasized the economy, the vividness and the deep poetic validity of the imagery, and even of the rhyme scheme, in the ballads. Thus, the well-known lines

Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Medieval Literature and History · Psychology · Scottish History and National Identity