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Broadside ballad entitled 'The Sailor Boy' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'One dark and stormy night / The snow lay on the ground / A sailor boy stood on the quay / His ship was out ward bound . . . ' Below the title, we are told that this ballad 'Can be had at the Poet's Box, Dundee', and that it costs one penny. This melancholic ballad tells the story of a departing sailor and his young sweetheart. The 'dark and stormy' night-time setting for their fond farewell at the harbour appears to be full of portent. The foreboding imagery employed in the ballad is shown to be prophetic, and the ship returns to port flying its flag at half-mast. Tragically, the sailor and his sweetheart were star-crossed lovers. It is not clear what the connection between the different Poet?s Boxes were. They almost certainly sold each other?s sheets. It is known that John Sanderson in Edinburgh often wrote to the Leitches in Glasgow for songs and that later his brother Charles obtained copies of songs from the Dundee Poet?s Box. There was also a Poet?s Box in Belfast from 1846 to 1856 at the address of the printer James Moore, and one at Paisley in the early 1850s, owned by William Anderson. Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally perpetuated by word of mouth, many ballads survive because they were recorded on broadsides. Musical notation was rarely printed, as tunes were usually established favourites. The term 'ballad' eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.
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Probable period of publication:
1880-1900 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.70(64a)
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