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Broadside ballad entitled ''Tis But A Little Faded Flower' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Tis but a little faded flower, / But oh, how fondly dear, / 'Twill bring me back one golden hour, / Through many, through many a weary year'. Below the title we are told that 'This popular song can always be had at the Poet's Box 182 OVERGATE, DUNDEE'. This thoughtful and whimsical ballad muses on the subject of why we save seemingly trifling things, such as a flower or a lock of hair, for sentimental reasons. Employing a faded flower from childhood as the central image of the ballad, the writer shows how we treasure such mementoes in order to inspire happy memories of the past. The writer then goes on to ponder how interesting it is that we often attach more value to our keepsakes, than we do to rare jewels. In short, this melancholic ballad appears to comment on the paradoxical manner in which the past exists in the present for us, and concludes by reminding us about the transient nature of life. 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(67b)
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