[787]. One can readily understand that Stevenson heard his islanders sing, in chorus of perhaps a hundred persons, legendary songs about which not two of these singers could agree in their translation. Letters of R. L. Stevenson, II. 152.
[788]. Lais, p. 18. Professor Schipper, in his valuable treatise on Englische Metrik, I. 326 ff., follows Wolf in this definition; but in both cases the analytic purpose excuses this neglect of the communal origin, and the material presented allows the student to make his own comparisons and supply the neglected considerations.
[789]. A. W. Grube, Deutsche Volkslieder, Iserlohn, 1866, in his sections “Der Kehrreim des Volksliedes,” pp. 1-103, and “Der Kehrreim bei Goethe, Uhland und Rückert,” pp. 187-306, follows Wolf in part, deriving refrains from the church hymns (p. 112), but adds a plea for the antiquity of folksong, which is “von Haus aus Chorgesang” (p. 183). So, too, on p. 125, he seems to view the origin of poetry of the people as a statement of contemporaneous events in one sentence—hence not “invented”—which is sung by the throng. He notes the increased power of the refrain with the preponderance of lyric over epic elements: though he neglects the dance and communal conditions generally. The close connection of Goethe (as in the Ach neige, Du Schmerzensreiche) and of Rückert (as in the beautiful repetitions of Aus der Jugendzeit) with popular poetry, is admirably treated. See pp. 189 ff., 284 ff.
[790]. See a note in the author’s Old English Ballads, p. lxxxiv.
[791]. See Chappell, Popular Music, I. 222 ff., 34, 264; II. 426, 457.
[792]. III. 4. See also the Oxford Dictionary, s.v. “burden,” with the reference to Shakspere’s Lucrece, v. 1133.
[793]. III. 1.
[794]. English Rhythms, II. 290.
[795]. Child, I. 113.
[796]. Nordboernes Aandsliv, II. 434 ff.; but this evolution is stoutly denied by Steenstrup, Vore Folkeviser, pp. 120 ff., in a study of the refrain to be considered below.