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into the funeral and burial of the same couple, as a manifestation of the impact of a
seemingly minor offence. Harry Caldwell thus explains this inherent quality of the genre:
"The ballads suggest that men live in a social context. When one individual commits an aCI
of tragic consequence, the social organization cannot help but suffer. Ballad tragedy is
social tragedy. "1 Besides this. the disparity between the cause and its effecl might prompt
ballad audiences 10 reneet on how these dramas could have been avoided or resolved for
the better. Various singers have commented on the instructive vallie of ballads as
compared with other songs.2 MacEdward Leach repons such an impact from communities
on the Lower Labrador Coast:
... he [the singer] always lets the slory-songs speak for themselves. The
audience never panicipates beyond comment on the songs; there is no
applause or extravagant praise. Rather there are quiet remarks here and
there, "That is sure a good song:' or "A song like that, it's got more truth
than a preacher's semlOn."
The songs on the Labrador Coast are almost all ballads; they outnumber
the "ditties," the humorous and sentimental songs, by twenty to one. I
asked about this and got such answers as: "They are beller because they
are not just da, da, da, but give you something to think about." "These are
good because they are about people." "I like these because they teach you
something. "3
An interesting pattern emerges from a comparison of the two major type groups of
this corpus when one considers the source of the offence: whenever this has a human
cause, and panicularly when it is committed by the central protagonists, it induces the death
of one and generally several characters. The resolution of these dramas in death
demonstrates the subversive nature of human flaws similar in effect to the manifest evil of
crime. On the other hand, when the offence is caused by a third character, the victimized
hero(in)es stand a chance to escape their wrongdoers or tomlent them as revenants.
Thirdly, when the offence comes as a fatality, it is generally resolved for the best: the love
of one's dear ones inspires the courage necessary to overcome grief, and esc'lpe the
temptation of despair.
The ewfoundland classical ballads relating to death focus on the circumstnnces likely
to endanger one's personal life. This study of a corpus of diverse contents rather than one
lC31dwell 21.
2Among the most substanlial accounls, Burton, Some and Abrahams. A Singer and /fer Songs:
Almeda Riddle's Book of Ballads (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP. 1970).
3 Lcach, Folk 9 and II.