Lord Lovel
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Lord Lovel is Child ballad number 75, in existing in several variants.[1]
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[edit] Synopsis
A lord tells the lady he loves that he is going in a journey that will take several years. After a time, he longs to see her. He returns whereupon he hears of her death, and dies of grief.
The journey that Lord Lovel undertakes is a pilgrimage, a quest to a holy shrine.
[edit] Variants
Forms of this ballad are very common in Scandinavia and Germany.[2]
The ballads, Lord Thomas and Fair Annet and Fair Margaret and Sweet William contain some similar themes, but in those ballads, the hero is actively fickle, seeking another bride.[3]
A closer equivalent to this ballad is Lady Alice, Child ballad 85.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Lord Lovel"
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 204-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 204, Dover Publications, New York 1965
- ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 279, Dover Publications, New York 1965
[edit] External links
- Lord Lovel with history
- Lord Lovel in several variants from Brewster's Ballads and Songs of Indiana
- Lord Lovel (Oxford Book of Ballads, 1910)