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Indeed, whereas neither poveny, isolation, disease nor the sea alone even has rhe
answer for the popularity and relevance of revenant ballads in Newfoundland, these
cultural facts ahogcther yield the hypothesis of these ballads' panicular, thus greater
significance in helping the local population cope with the human crisis of death. For, if
separation is common to man, it is more problematic in maritime cultures; these are known
to reinforce "rraditional" values, such as by pushing personal relationships 10 the extreme-­
beyond death. Omens, ghost sailors, revenants and such "stultifying superstitions" are
remarkably consistent with qualities known (0 maritime people: watchfulness, anticipation,
solidarity and--not the leasl--courage; such lore might also be the more "necessary" to
them.
This study of worldview in ewfoundland culture, I hope, yields some structures to
build on. The insights gained into this group's attitudes to life as well as de:'llh and their
concomitance bears oul Aries's and others' suggestion that "death is at the hub of human
cultures." This investigation, likewise, confinns that worldview reveals "the Structure of
things." Within the limits of the thematic angle of this analysis, it nevertheless appears that
the Newfoundland classical ballads were no odd or empty shells washed ashore. As they
"settled" in Newfoundland, they made their way, kept their language, but picked up the
local accent. Like those who brought them over, they may lie to their rest··but their
revenants roam... and carry over their all too relevant message.