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Broadside ballad entitled 'Soldier's Pardon' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Wild blew the gale in Gibralter one night, / As a soldier lay stretched in his cell; / And anon, 'mid the darkness, the moon's silver light / On his countenance dreamily fell.' The broadside was published by the Poet's Box in Dundee. Beneath the title it is noted that the song was 'Recited with Great Success by D. WILKIE of DUNDEE'. 'Soldier's Pardon' recounts the tale of an English soldier sentenced to death for striking a cruel superior in a fit of temper. The song is dominated by a moving conversation between the soldier, Joe, and his comrade Tom, who is trusted with delivering Joe's last words to his loved ones in Devonshire. At the end of the song, however, Joe is pardoned, and the last image is of him reunited with his sweetheart. Such songs, featuring soldiers and sailors parted from their loved ones, were frequently featured on broadsides. 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: RB.m.143(051)
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