Morning Dew and Roses: Nuance, Metaphor, and Meaning in Folksongs (Folklore and Society) - Hardcover

"A major academic work that is also brilliantly, clearly, humanely, and poetically written. It can be enjoyed not only by ballad and bawdry scholars but by everyone who picks it up." -- Kenneth S. Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania, former president of the American Folklore Society "Toelken's insights . . . are unique. His study broadens and deepens scholarly appreciation of how folksong metaphors carry their own semantic weight. . . . One of the best expressions of the power of music in folksong that I have seen in recent years." -- James Porter, author of The Traditional Music of Britain and Ireland In this lively exploration of folksongs and their meanings, Barre Toelken looks closely at riddle songs and other ambiguous folksongs, as well as the various "ballad commonplaces." Ranging through metaphors such as weaving, plowing, plucking flowers, and walking in the dew, Toelken shows how each contributes to meaning in vernacular song. He includes comparisons to German folksongs, medieval poetry, Italian folk lyrics, and a wide range of Euro-American vernacular expression.

Toelken's lively exploration of folksongs and their meanings looks closely at a number of folksong and ballad texts. He discusses riddle songs and other ambiguous folksongs, as well as the various "ballad commonplaces", treating them not as a fund of mindless cliches but as a reservoir of suggestive reference. The author ranges through metaphors such as weaving, plowing, plucking flowers, and walking in the dew, showing in each case how it contributes to meaning in vernacular song. Included are comparisons to German folksongs, medieval poetry, Italian folk lyrics, and a wide range of Euro-American vernacular expression. If morning dew and roses are metaphorical signifiers, he prompts us to ask, what might they say to the folk communities that sustain and share them? Toelken draws on both his published work and his extensive unpublished research on English-language and German-Austrian folksong. The German references he offers show that the nuances are not coincidental or unique to English ballad development but reflect a widespread northern European pattern of metaphoric expression.