Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England
Various
109 chapters · 8 h 50 min · English
Read by Devorah Allen, Josh Kibbey, Nemo, Jim Gallagher, Ellies, Stephen Harvey and others
Poetry
Play ☆ Favorite
This traditional, and, for the most part, unprinted literature, cherished in remote villages, resisting everywhere the invasion of modern namby-pamby verse and jaunty melody, and possessing, in an historical point of view, especial value as a faithful record of the feeling, usages, and modes of life of the rural population, had been almost wholly passed over amongst the antiquarian revivals which constitute one of the distinguishing features of the present age. While attention was successfully drawn to other forms of our early poetry, this peasant minstrelsy was scarcely touched, and might be considered unexplored ground. There was great difficulty in collecting materials which lay scattered so widely, and which could be procured in their genuine simplicity only from the people amongst whom they originated, and with whom they are as ‘familiar as household words.’ - Summary by Robert Bell
Chapters
1 Introduction 10 min 2 The Plain-Dealing Man 5 min 3 The Vanities of Life 9 min 4 The Life and Age of Man 5 min 5 The Young Man's Wish 2 min 6 The Midnight Messenger 8 min 7 A Dialogue Betwix an Exciseman and Death 7 min 8 The Messenger of Mortality 5 min 9 England's Alarm 7 min 10 Smoking Spiritualized 6 min 11 The Masonic Hymn 5 min 12 God Speed the Plow, and Bless the Corn-mow 5 min 13 A Dialogue Between the Husbandman and the Servingman 5 min 14 The Catholick 2 min 15 The Three Knights 5 min 16 The Blind Beggar of Bednall Green 15 min 17 The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood 5 min 18 The Outlandish Knight 4 min 19 Lord Delaware 8 min 20 Lord Bateman 5 min 21 The Golden Glove; or, the Squire of Tamworth 3 min 22 King James I. and the Tinkler 5 min 23 The Keach I' the Creel 4 min 24 The Merry Broomfield; or, the West Country Wager 6 min 25 Sir John Barleycorn 4 min 26 Blow the Winds, I-ho! 5 min 27 The Beautiful Lady of Kent; or, the Seaman of Dover 17 min 28 The Berkshire Lady's Garland 17 min 29 The Nobleman's Generous Kindness 7 min 30 The Drunkard's Legacy 8 min 31 The Bowes Tragedy 10 min 32 The Crafty Lover; or, the Lawyer Outwitted 4 min 33 The Death of Queen Jane 4 min 34 The Wandering Young Gentlewoman; or, Catskin 20 min 35 The Brave Earl Brand and the King of England's Daughter 6 min 36 The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove; or, the Old Man and his Three Sons 5 min 37 Lady Alice 2 min 38 The Felon Sewe of Rokeby and the Freeres of Richmond 16 min 39 Arthur O'Bradley's Wedding 14 min 40 The Painful Plough 3 min 41 The Useful Plow; or, the Plough's Praise 3 min 42 The Farmer's Son 4 min 43 The Farmer's Boy 3 min 44 Richard of Taunton Dean; or, Dumble Dum Deary 6 min 45 Wooing Song of a Yeoman of Kent's Sonne 4 min 46 The Clown's Courtship 2 min 47 Harry's Courtship 3 min 48 Harvest-Home Song 3 min 49 Harvest-Home 2 min 50 The Mow 1 min 51 The Barley-Mow Song 8 min 52 The Barley-Mow Song (Suffolk version) 1 min 53 The Craven Churn-Supper Song 4 min 54 The Rural Dance About the May-Pole 4 min 55 The Hitchin May-Day Song 2 min 56 The Helstone Furry-Day Song 4 min 57 Cornish Midsummer Bonfire Song 2 min 58 Suffolk Harvest-Home Song 2 min 59 The Haymaker's Song 2 min 60 The Sword-Dancers' Song 3 min 61 The Sword-Dancers' Song and Interlude 8 min 62 The Maskers' Song 4 min 63 Gloucestershire Wassailers' Song 2 min 64 The Mummers' Song 2 min 65 Fragment of the Hagmena Song 3 min 66 The Greenside Wakes Song 3 min 67 The Swearing-in Song or Rhyme 10 min 68 Fairlop Fair Song 5 min 69 As Tom was a-Walking 3 min 70 The Miller and his Sons 3 min 71 Jack and Tom 4 min 72 Joan's Ale Was New 5 min 73 George Ridler's Oven 10 min 74 The Carrion Crow 5 min 75 The Leathern Bottel 3 min 76 The Farmer's Old Wife 4 min 77 Old Wichet and his Wife 7 min 78 The Jolly Waggoner 3 min 79 The Yorkshire Horse-dealer 5 min 80 The King and the Countryman 5 min 81 Jone o' Greenfield's Ramble 6 min 82 Thornehagh-Moor Woods 5 min 83 The Lincolnshire Poacher 3 min 84 Somersetshire Hunting Song 3 min 85 The Trotting Horse 4 min 86 The Seeds of Love 4 min 87 The Garden-Gate 2 min 88 The New-Mown Hay 2 min 89 The Praise of a Dairy 4 min 90 The Milk-Maid's Life 3 min 91 The Milking-Pail 2 min 92 The Summer's Morning 6 min 93 Old Adam 2 min 94 Tobacco 2 min 95 The Spanish Ladies 2 min 96 Harry the Tailor 2 min 97 Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee 3 min 98 There Was an Old Man Came Over the Lea 2 min 99 Why Should we Quarrel for Riches 2 min 100 The Merry Fellows 3 min 101 The Old Man's Song 4 min 102 Robin Hood's Hill 3 min 103 Begone Dull Care 2 min 104 Full Merrily sings the Cuckoo 3 min 105 Jockey to the Fair 5 min 106 Long Preston Peg 2 min 107 The Sweet Nightingale 5 min 108 The Old Man and his Three Sons 2 min 109 A Begging We Will Go 4 min
