The Book of Brave Old Ballads — Background and Themes

Disguise and the Testing of Identity

Disguise is not merely a plot device but a structural engine that drives many ballads. In “King Edward IV and the Tanner of Tamworth,” the king exchanges clothes with a tanner and engages in a wrestling match, only to reveal himself later. The tanner’s sweat and effort are described in physical detail: “The tanner he pull’d, the tanner he sweat, / And held by the pummel fast.” Similarly, “The Frolicksome Duke” opens with the duke lying late in bed, then dressing as a tinker to wander among his subjects. The ballads use disguise to test loyalty, wit, or courage, and the moment of revelation often comes with a shift in tone—from comic to serious, or from threat to reward.

Recurring Imagery of Bows, Gold, and Water

Certain images appear across multiple ballads, linking them thematically. Bows are described with care: in “Adam Bell,” “Cloudesly bent a right good bow, / That was of a trusty tree.” Gold is counted and exchanged in scenes of transaction or betrayal—most notably in “The Heir of Linne,” where three bags of gold are pulled forth and laid upon the board. Water crossings mark transitions: Sir Lancelot is brought to a river side and a tree; the Curtal Friar carries Robin Hood across deep water. These recurring elements create a visual and rhythmic coherence, even as the settings shift from forest to court to ship.

Movement Between Social Spheres

The ballads frequently move characters between distinct social worlds: the forest outlaw meets the sheriff, the king meets the miller, the merchant meets the pirate. In “Sir Andrew Barton,” King Henry rides by the Thames when merchants kneel before him, and the scene shifts to the sea. “The King and the Miller of Mansfield” begins with the king lost in the forest and ends with a feast at court. These movements are often abrupt, signaled by a change in stanza or a direct address. The structure emphasizes the permeability of boundaries—rank is unsettled, then restored, often with a comic or moral twist.

The Role of the Illustrations in Structuring the Narrative

John Gilbert’s sixteen illustrations are placed at key dramatic moments, each captioned with a line from the ballad. For instance, the image of Sir Guy of Gisborne shows Robin Hood holding the head by the hair, stuck upon his bow’s end. The illustration for “The Heir of Linne” depicts the moment the heir pulls forth three bags of gold. These images do not merely decorate; they punctuate the narrative, freezing a turning point. The frontispiece shows the Frolicksome Duke in his bed of state, surrounded by knights and squires, visually establishing the theme of disguise before the text begins. The illustrations thus guide the reader’s attention to moments of reversal and revelation.

Readers may find it useful to attend to the way each ballad establishes a setting—often a single line like “When Flora with her fragrant flowers” or “When shaws be sheen”—and then quickly introduces a conflict through dialogue. The ballads reward attention to repeated phrases and structural parallels, such as the pattern of three questions or three attempts. The collection invites comparison between its Robin Hood pieces and its chivalric or comic tales, revealing a shared interest in testing identity through encounter.

I often pull down that old ballad book, its pages carrying the green murmur of Sherwood and the salt of the sea. And then I find myself reaching for the other, In The Seven Woods: Being Poems Chiefly of the Irish Heroic Age — Background and Themes, where the same longing for a wilder, older world waits quietly between the lines.