Modern Language Notes Vol 24 Classic Reprint

Author : Johns Hopkins University
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781330495681
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (956 download)

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Download or read book Modern Language Notes, Vol. 28 (Classic Reprint) written by Johns Hopkins University and published by . This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Modern Language Notes, Vol. 28 A recent writer dealing with the subject of negro folk-song, its social and psychological antecedents, in the course of his exposition, makes the following statement: "In the 'Downward Road is Crowded, ' a mournful picture is given of the sinner who failed to repent. His example is held up for the contemplation of those who are following in his steps. Young people who delight in sin, I tell you what I lately seen, A po' godless sinner die, And he said, 'In hell I soon'll lie!" Hark, the downward road is crowded, crowded, crowded, Yes, the downward road is crowded with onbelievin' souls. He call his mother to his bed, An' these is the dyin' words he said, 'Mother, mother, I long farewell, Your wicked son is damned in hell.' He dance an' play hisself away, An' still put off his dyin' day, Until at las' ole death was sent, An' it 'us too late fer him to repent." That this is too sophisticated even for a negro preacher, and bears moreover, too certain evidence of a literary origin, seems not to have suggested itself. There is nothing in it of the irregularity of structure and incoherence that marks genuine negro folk-songs of the type of Roll, Jordan, roll! or Swing low, sweet Chariot, evident creations out of the white heat of religious fervor, and surrounded by the atmosphere of the camp-meeting. What we have in fact, is a versified crude sermon, a homiletic discourse in ballad form. Instances of the religious, nay even of the homiletical or theological ballad, it may be stated in passing, are found even in the older strate of English folk-song, - we may cite The Cherry Tree Carol, The Carnal and the Crane, Dives and Lazarus, not to mention the lately discovered Bitter Withy. The ballad at present under discussion is doubly interesting, not only as an instance of the homiletic application of the ballad idea, but also as being one of the few attested American traditional ballads. Given a theme in its simplest form, - "young person lives a worldly life, rejects means of grace, and, dying, is numbered with the lost," familiar enough in the discourses of evangelists from the time of the Great Awakening on, - it appears that two closely similar developments of it in American balladry have taken place. We cannot fairly call them two ballads, in the sense that Baby Lon and Edward are two ballads. The one is a counterpart of the other. The material at hand may here be put in evidence. Theme: Impenitent-sinner-lost. Form I. The Downward Road. A. Lamentable Death of Polly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.