Marine disasters in Newfoundland folk balladry including a classificatory system for sea disaster narrative

Halley, Morgiana P. (1989) Marine disasters in Newfoundland folk balladry including a classificatory system for sea disaster narrative. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is based on a project whereby a classificatory system for sea disaster narrative was created, using ballads of marine disaster collected from the Newfoundland repertoire as its foundation. The first chapter discusses the system itself, and contains an outline thereof. It also deals with the reasoning behind the creation of the system and with its projected use. The actual system thereafter appears only in appendices. -- The remainder of the thesis involves a discussion of new insights about the ballad repertoire of Newfoundland and Labrador which were revealed through the research by which the system was created. Chapter Two comprises a diachronic overview of ballad collection and study within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and a discussion of past work in the area. In Chapter Three, the commemorative aspects of locally composed marine disaster ballads of Newfoundland and Labrador are considered. This chapter also discusses variations in factual accuracy which may occur as a result of varying memorial emphases. -- Chapter Four discusses the differences between locally composed ballads about shipwrecks and drownings and those ballads on similar subjects which have been imported into Newfoundland and Labrador from other areas and traditions. Locally composed pieces usually appear to be more historically and factually accurate to specific occurrences than do imports. The fifth and final chapter involves a discussion of the poetic and conventional language employed in the marine disaster ballad and the changes in conventional or formulaic usage which have occurred in such balladry in Newfoundland and Labrador over the past one hundred fifty years. -- Appendix A presents a complete explanation of the classificatory system itself, with an annotation to each category, explaining its projected content. Appendix B entails the research work on which the system was founded, illustrating how the ballads collected from the Newfoundland repertoire were employed to found the system itself, giving references and cross-references, and annotating the data to published works in which versions of the same ballads appear.

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