- Lord Lovel
Lord Lovel is
Child ballad number 75, in existing in several variants. [Francis James Child , "English and Scottish Popular Ballads", [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch075.htm "Lord Lovel"] ]ynopsis
A lord tells the lady he loves that he is going in a journey that will take several years. After a time, he longs to see her. He returns whereupon he hears of her death, and dies of grief.
The journey that Lord Lovel undertakes is a pilgrimage, a quest to a holy shrine.
Variants
Forms of this ballad are very common in Scandinavia and Germany. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 204-6, Dover Publications, New York 1965]
The ballads, "
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet " and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William " contain some similar themes, but in those ballads, the hero is actively fickle, seeking another bride. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 204, Dover Publications, New York 1965]A closer equivalent to this ballad is "
Lady Alice ", Child ballad 85. [Francis James Child, "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads", v 2, p 279, Dover Publications, New York 1965]References
External links
* [http://www.contemplator.com/child/lovel.html "Lord Lovel"] with history
* [http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/indiana/songs-ballads%20-%200179.htm "Lord Lovel"] in several variants from Brewster's "Ballads and Songs of Indiana"
* [http://www.bartleby.com/243/155.html "Lord Lovel"] ("Oxford Book of Ballads", 1910)
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