The Unquiet Grave

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For the 1944 literary work by Cyril Connolly, see The Unquiet Grave (book). For the 1964 anthology edited by August Derleth, see The Unquiet Grave (anthology).

"The Unquiet Grave" is an English

Child Ballad number 78.[1] One of the more common tunes used for the ballad is the same as that used for the English ballad "Dives and Lazarus" and the Irish pub favorite "Star of the County Down
".

Synopsis

A man mourns his true love for "a twelve month and a day". At the end of that time, the dead woman complains that his weeping is keeping her from peaceful rest. He begs a kiss. She tells him it would kill him. When he persists, wanting to join her in death, she explains that once they are both dead their hearts will simply decay, so he should enjoy life while he has it.

Variants

The version noted by Cecil Sharp[2] ends with "When will we meet again? / When the autumn leaves that fall from the trees / Are green and spring up again."

Many verses in this ballad have parallels in other ballads: Bonny Bee Hom, Sweet William's Ghost and some variants of The Twa Brothers.[3]

Ween plays a version featuring a woman weeping for a dead man, on their 1997 album The Mollusk entitled "Cold Blows the Wind". The liner notes of the album jokingly describe the song as a traditional Chinese spiritual.

Return of the dead

The motif that excessive grief can disturb the dead is found also in German and Scandinavian ballads, as well as Greek and Roman traditions.[4]

In 1941 the "Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society" Vol 4 no 2 included a long essay by Ruth Harvey. She compares motifs from "The Unquiet Grave" with other European ballads, including "Es ging ein Knab spazieren (Der tote Freier)" from Germany.[5] and "Faestemanden I Graven" from Denmark. She writes: "It is only inevitable that a song which certainly goes back to pre-Christian traditions should have suffered modification during the centuries.".[6]

The Danish ballad "Faestemanden I Graven" was made into a short film "Aage og Else" (1983).[7] In the Wikipedia article Danmarks gamle Folkeviser [circular reference] this Danish ballad is listed a number 90, with "Sweet William's Ghost" as the English equivalent song.

The fact that both those European ballads were printed in the seventeenth century means that it is not too much of a stretch[according to whom?] to say that "The Unquiet Grave" is in the same time-scale. On the Fresno State University website, Robert B Waltz compares "The Unquiet Grave" with an older carol, "There blows a cold wind today" in the Bodleian Library MS 7683 (dated c 1500), and writes: "I must say that I find this a stretch; the similarities are slight indeed."[8]

To lean on the cautious side [

editorialising] we can allow "The Unquiet Grave" to be seventeen century, but discredit a date before 1600.[speculation?
]

Recordings

References

  1. ^ Francis James Child, Scottish and English Popular Ballads, "The Unquiet Grave"
  2. ISBN 0-486-23192-5
  3. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 234, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  4. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 234-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  5. ^ Zachcial, Michael (13 February 1856). "Herr". Deutsche Volkslieder. Müller-Lüdenscheidt-Verlag. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  6. ^ Matteson, Richard. "Mr". Bluegrassmessengers. Blugreass Messengers. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  7. ^ Thomsen, Knud Leif. "Aage og Else". IMDB. ImdbPro. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ^ Waltz, Robert. "Unquiet Grave, The [Child 78]". Traditional Ballad Index. Fresno State University. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  9. ^ "Death in June / Fire + Ice - We Said Destroy". Discogs.

External links

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