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attitudes are but landmarks or turning points on a single continuous line and their
conceptualization as distinct entities more helpful than reaL Aries's study apart, those of
Carlo Ginzburg, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and Mikhail Bakhline converge to show that
that Culture, though inwardly coherent, is never homogeneous.
Indeed, Ihe cognitive conceptualization of death as either "good" or "bad" pervades
Newfoundland's synchronic as well as diachronic expressions despite mutable, sometimes
"inverted" but. at any rate, compatible meanings. In the worldview characteristic of
"traditional" societies, "good death" entailed anticipation of its occurrence, resignation to its
fact and celebration for a life fulfilled. "Bad death," on the contrary, was synonymous
with tragedy, i.e. untimely, violent or sudden death. This opposition, when reinterpreted
in Christian terms, produced popular conceptions of "heaven" and "hell": a death carefully
prepared for spiritually versus one stained with unrepented sin. The romantic age as well
projected its own hopes and fears in making "good" the "heroic" death of the soldier, the
"innocent" death of the child, the "sacrificial" death of lovers, etc. The intolerable
separation from loved ones, besides, was sublimated (made "good") in their treasured
memory and the prospect of final reunion. These three mental patterns still largely
condition the perception and treatment of death in contemporary Newfoundland society:
underneath these variable meanings, "good death" continues to be duly celebrated and
thought of in good time; tragic death continues to be the "hardest" to bear.
If, for pragmatic reasons, the various genres have been discussed mostly under a
single "attitude," their analysis hopefully has shown their participation in morc than one.
Let us take ghost ballads and songs as an example. If the spirits of broadsides and later
songs closely resemble those of classical ballads as functioning either as avenger or
protector, lhe laller have not remained immune to mental change. Revealingly, the most
popular among them shows the clearest signs of evolution. The fatal visits of ghost­
ilvengers 10 the wrongdoers manifest human justice more than Christian forgiveness to their
wrongdoers, and the ghost-proteclors watch over their own with eanhly concern for their
benefit; Lady Margaret's visitor, however, is no lay teacher but a Christian intercessor,
sllccessful in strengthening her faith, and thus securing her exceptional survival:
She took a cross all from her oosom,
And she smoted him on the breast
Saying, "Here's a token for you Sweet William,
God grant you a happy rest"