 | English Folk Poetry: Structure and Meaning Drawing on the long tradition of folklore study, Roger deV. Renwick examines three genres: traditional English folksongs, local songs of regional interest, and working-class poetry. In the span of time that extends from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, he finds govern world views underlying a large sampling of poems related by common language, imagery, or topic, and then shows how these world views relate to the everyday lives and beliefs of the poetry's makers and users. There is, in addition, a pattern of historical continuity that links the rural folksongs of the eighteenth century with the part-rural, part-urban local songs of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and with the fully urban working-class poetry of the present day. |
