Poets' Corner Logo
Poets' Corner Home . Other Pages HOME . Contact Information

Index of Traditional Works

Introduction

Every culture has its traditional songs which date back to some remote time in a nation's or people's history. Some of these works from the British isles date back hundreds of years to the middle ages. Many traditional American songs originated in the periods before and after the Civil War. American songs in particular are rich and varied, resulting perhaps from the nation's condensed history (relative to most European or Asian countries) and the many and varied group which make up its population. From the spirituals sung by the enslaved and opressed, to ballads of life during the westward expansion, there is much to choose from. At some point I'd like to also add a collection of works from the Shakers, an American religious group that believed music was one of the great Gifts, and considered the creation of music or verse as one of the most important things in life.

English/Scottish/Welsh/Irish (119)

As many of these works are very old, they have assumed a fairly standardized form in most modern anthologies. In a few cases there are transposed stanzas in versions taken from different references. They are presented here in the most commonly published forms. Included here also is Bell's collection of regional English songs and ballads.

Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of Peasantry England, edited by Edited by Robert Bell (BB) - a collection of 108 traditional works
Alison, 13th Century English Balad, In Middle Engligh
Barbara Allen, Traditional Ballad
The Bellman's Song, Traditional Poem
Marigold, English Traditional (Maddy Prior's version, if you get a chance to hear it, is particularly bittersweet)
Lord Randall, Traditional English Ballad
A Lyke-Wake Dirge, Traditional Scottish Poem
Saucy Sailor, English Traditional (Steelye Span's Maddy Prior sings a nice version of this)
The Silver Swan, Traditional Poem
Sir Andrew Barton, Traditional English Ballad (BB)
Sir Patrick Spens, Traditional Scottish Ballad
Thomas the Rhymer, Traditional English Ballad (Steelye Span's Maddy Prior sings a nice version of this)
Though Amaryllis Dance in Green, Traditional Poem
Western Wind, Traditional Poem

Native American (8)

Several of these adaptations are thought to be by H.W. Longfellow, although they do not seem to appear in the difinitive 1886 Riverside Edition of his Complete Works.

American Folk Songs and Spirituals (9)

Unlike most of the British works listed above, most traditional American works are specifically 19th century in origin, and their popularization over a large and (for much of that time) sparsely populated country resulted in many differences in the number and content of stanzas, as well as variations in the refrains. Most of these are recalled by residents of this century based on simplified versions recorded by popular singers or from school songbooks.

Down in the Valley, American Folk Song
Free at Last, Traditional American Spiritual
A Home on the Range, American Folk Song
I Know Moonrise, Traditional American Spiritual
Low Bridge, Everybody Down or Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal, American Folk Song
Midnight Special, American Folk Song [circa 1910]
My Darling Clementine, American Folk Song
Red River Valley, Canadian Folk Song [circa 1870]
She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain, American Folk Song
Shenandoah, American Folk Song
Simple Gifts - A traditional Shaker song, whose melody was used effectively by Aaron Copeland as the basis for his Appalachian Spring

Poets' Corner HOME . Other Pages HOME . Contact Information