A Book of Old Ballads — Complete — Reading Notes

The Foreword as a Reading Lens

Nichols' foreword, written in 1934, frames the ballads as a corrective to modern literary fatigue. He calls them 'great draughts of poetry which have lost none of their sparkle and none of their bouquet.' This is not a scholarly introduction but a personal manifesto: he values the ballads for their 'tonic qualities' and their embodiment of an older, more robust patriotism. Readers should note that Nichols does not discuss textual variants or historical origins; his focus is on emotional impact and national character. The foreword thus primes us to read for energy and directness rather than for antiquarian detail.

Dialogue and Dramatic Irony in the Ballads

Many ballads in this collection rely on dialogue to advance the story, often with ironic twists. In 'The Friar of Orders Gray,' a lady asks a friar about her lost love, only to be told he is dead and buried. The friar's reassurances—'Sigh no more, lady, sigh no more, / Men were deceivers ever'—clash with the lady's grief, creating a tension between consolation and truth. Similarly, in 'The Spanish Lady's Love,' the Spanish lady's elaborate confession of love is undercut by the English captain's revelation that he is already married. These exchanges are swift and unadorned, relying on repetition and incremental revelation.

Recurring Motifs: Disguise, Death, and Devotion

Several ballads share common motifs that reward comparison. Disguise appears in 'The Knight and Shepherd's Daughter' and 'King Edward IV and the Tanner of Tamworth,' where characters conceal their identities to test others. Death from love—or for love—is central to 'Barbara Allen's Cruelty,' 'Clerk Colvill,' and 'The Wife of Usher's Well.' Devotion, often to a lost beloved, drives 'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington' and 'Hynd Horn.' Nichols' arrangement places these variants side by side, allowing the reader to notice how the same themes are handled in different registers—tragic, comic, or supernatural.

The Inclusion of Modern Ballads

Nichols extends the definition of 'old ballad' to include works from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rudyard Kipling's 'Mandalay' and Oscar Wilde's 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' sit alongside traditional pieces, as does the wartime song 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary.' This choice reflects Nichols' belief that the ballad spirit is not confined to the past. Readers may find the shift in diction and subject matter jarring—Wilde's poem, with its measured stanzas and legalistic refrain, contrasts sharply with the simpler repetitions of 'The Three Ravens.' Yet the inclusion underscores the editor's argument for the ballad's enduring vitality.

To read A Book of Old Ballads is to encounter a deliberately curated sequence. Nichols has arranged the poems not chronologically but for contrast and cumulative effect. Pay attention to the shifts in tone from one ballad to the next—from the gallows humor of 'The Heir of Linne' to the supernatural dread of 'Thomas the Rhymer.' The color plates, listed but not reproduced in this text, hint at a visual dimension that complements the verbal. Approach the collection as a performance, with Nichols as your spirited, opinionated guide.

There’s something tender about Nichols’ old ballads—their plain sorrow feels like a hand on the shoulder. I found myself lingering on "Barbara Allen" the other evening, and it reminded me of another quiet volume, Poems By The Way & Love Is Enough — Story, Setting & Ideas, where the same unhurried ache whispers between the lines. Some books simply sit beside you, asking nothing.