Lang, lang may the ladies stand : a ballad motif in the book of Judges

McCarthy William Bernard: Lang, lang may the ladies stand : a ballad motif in the book of Judges. In: Folk ballads, ethics, moral issues : [a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Néprajzi Intézete és az Európai Folklór Intézet által Budapesten, 2001. ápr. 21-23. között rendezett konferencia anyaga], (10). pp. 7-18. (2002)

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Abstract

The biblical books of Exodus and Judges each contain a long narrative song with striking analogies, performative as well as structural, to the Scots ballads that William Motherwell writes about in his 1827 Minstrelsy Ancient and Modem. The second of these songs, the “Song of Deborah,” also shares a motif with two Scots ballads in particular, the motif of the bereft ladies. This motif may be described as the introduction at the end of the song, for ironic effect, of ladies not implicated in the main action of the plot who rather wait in vain for the return of their husbands, unaware that they have already perished. This motif proves to be rare in the oral tradition of Europe and Asia Minor. But apparently it has entered the popular imagination of United States Americans, as is demonstrated by the common use of the probably inaccurate term widow’s walk to describe a vernacular architectural feature originally found on some New England homes, and by the choice of the motif to conclude a vernacular poem published on the internet.

Item Type: Book Section
Journal or Publication Title: Folk ballads, ethics, moral issues : [a Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Néprajzi Intézete és az Európai Folklór Intézet által Budapesten, 2001. ápr. 21-23. között rendezett konferencia anyaga]
Date: 2002
Volume: 10
ISSN: 1419-1288
ISBN: 963 05 7989 8
Page Range: pp. 7-18
Series Name: Szegedi vallási néprajzi könyvtár
Language: English
Event Title: International Ballad Conference (31.) (2001) (Budapest)
Related URLs: http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/70234/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Népballada, Biblia
Additional Information: Bibliogr.: 18. p. ; ill. ; összefoglalás angol nyelven
Subjects: 05. Social sciences
05. Social sciences > 05.04. Sociology
06. Humanities
06. Humanities > 06.03. Philosophy, ethics and religion
Date Deposited: 2020. Sep. 16. 13:57
Last Modified: 2022. Feb. 02. 08:14
URI: http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/70277

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