William Wordsworth’s Danish Ghost and the Ballad that Never Was
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William Wordsworth’s Danish Ghost and the Ballad that Never Was. / Jensen-Rix, Robert William.
In: English Studies: A Journal of English Language, Vol. 98, No. 4, 01.03.2017, p. 393-409.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - William Wordsworth’s Danish Ghost and the Ballad that Never Was
AU - Jensen-Rix, Robert William
N1 - DOI: 10.1080/0013838X.2016.1254469 In print in vol. 98, no. 4 (2017)
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - William Wordsworth’s “A Fragment,” later renamed as “The DanishBoy. A Fragment,” was first published in Lyrical Ballads (1800). It isa vignette of a ghost – a Danish boy – singing in the landscape. Itis the aim of the article to examine the poem in a number ofcontexts that have not previously been discussed. It is argued thatthe singing and harp-playing ghost is a trope for the poetic vigourthat had dissipated under the demands for classical styles ofpoetry. More than any other piece in Lyrical Ballads, “A Fragment”points to the ancient Germanic origin of the new models forpoetic composition that were put forward. The poem participatesin the “bardic revival,” which is closely linked to Romantic-erafiction and antiquarianism. But, it is specifically the idea of theskalds, the ancient Scandinavian bards, which is significant here.Wordsworth’s interest in Norse poetry will be assessed, and so willconcurrent antiquarian claims that skaldic poetry was the directprogenitor of imaginative poetry in England.
AB - William Wordsworth’s “A Fragment,” later renamed as “The DanishBoy. A Fragment,” was first published in Lyrical Ballads (1800). It isa vignette of a ghost – a Danish boy – singing in the landscape. Itis the aim of the article to examine the poem in a number ofcontexts that have not previously been discussed. It is argued thatthe singing and harp-playing ghost is a trope for the poetic vigourthat had dissipated under the demands for classical styles ofpoetry. More than any other piece in Lyrical Ballads, “A Fragment”points to the ancient Germanic origin of the new models forpoetic composition that were put forward. The poem participatesin the “bardic revival,” which is closely linked to Romantic-erafiction and antiquarianism. But, it is specifically the idea of theskalds, the ancient Scandinavian bards, which is significant here.Wordsworth’s interest in Norse poetry will be assessed, and so willconcurrent antiquarian claims that skaldic poetry was the directprogenitor of imaginative poetry in England.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - wordsworth
KW - literary tradition
KW - ghosts
M3 - Journal article
VL - 98
SP - 393
EP - 409
JO - English Studies
JF - English Studies
SN - 0013-838X
IS - 4
ER -
ID: 178358043