МІНІСТЕРСТВО ОСВІТИ І НАУКИ УКРАЇНИ

ДЕРЖАВНИЙ ВИЩИЙ НАВЧАЛЬНИЙ ЗАКЛАД

ПРИКАРПАТСЬКИЙ НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ ІМЕНІ ВАСИЛЯ СТЕФАНИКА

Кафедра англійської філології

Індивідуальне завдання
Interpreting British Folk Ballad
“The Farmer's Curst Wife”

Виконала
Студентка групи А – 44
Факультету іноземних мов
Лабінська Марія

Івано-Франківськ
2019
 278A: The Farmer’s Curst Wife
278A.1 THERE was an old farmer in Sussex did dwell,
(chorus of whistlers)
There was an old farmer in Sussex did dwell,
And he had a bad wife, as many knew well.
(chorus of whistlers)
278A.2 Then Satan came to the old man at the plough:
‘One of your family I must have now.
278A.3 ‘It is not your eldest son that I crave,
But it is your old wife, and she I will have.’
278A.4 ‘O welcome, good Satan, with all my heart!
I hope you and she will never more part.’
278A.5 Now Satan has got the old wife on his back,
And he lugged her along, like a pedlar’s pack.
278A.6 He trudged away till they came to his hall-gate;
Says he, Here, take in an old Sussex chap’s mate.
278A.7 O then she did kick the young imps about;
Says one to the other, Let’s try turn her out.
278A.8 She spied thirteen imps all dancing in chains,
She up with her pattens and beat out their brains.
278A.9 She knocked the old Satan against the wall!
‘Let’s turn her out, or she’ll murder us all.’
278A.10 Now he’s bundled her up on his back amain,
And to her old husband he took her again.
278A.11 ‘I have been a tormentor the whole of my life,
But I neer was tormented so as with your wife.’

1. Poetic content:

1.1 Plot: exposition – stanzas 1 – 2, introduction of a conflict – stanzas 2 – 3,

rising action – stanzas 4 – 6, climax – stanzas 7 – 9, falling action and
resolution – stanzas 10 – 11.
1.2 Motifs: abduction, treated in an unusually humorous and ironical manner,
shrewish wife motif.
1.3 Images (characters): old ploughman (farmer), his wife, the Old Satan, little
devils.
1.4 Images (landscapes, descriptions, emotions etc): a description of the
entrance of the hell (imps dancing, ) , the description of the was the wife
was carried to hell; emotions – farmer’s irony, fear of the devil, of imps.
1.5 Images: kinetic, visual – a farmer ploughing his field; kinetic, auditory,
visual – the Satan approaching and talking to a farmer; kinetic – the devil
carrying the wife to the hell; kinetic, visual, auditory – imps dancing with
chains; kinetic, visual – fight between the wife, Satan and imps; kinetic –
returning to the Earth.
1.6 The supernatural and fantastic fairy tale elements: Old Satan, imps, hell.
 2. Poetic vocabulary and language:

2.1. Figurative language:

 hyperbole: “she’ll murder us all” (st. 9 ), “But I neer was tormented so

as with your wife” (st. 11) “She up with her pattens and beat out their
brains” (st.8) ;
 metaphor: hell – a household “hall-gate” (st.6);
 metonomy: pattens stand for feet: “She up with her pattens and beat
out their brains”
 antropomorphism: the Satan and imps look like and behave like men
throughout the ballad;
 simile: “And he lugged her along, like a pedlar’s pack” (st. 5).

2.2 . Rhetoric language:

 Inversion: "one of your family I must have now (st. 2), " Says he …"
(st.6), " Says one to the other " (st.7), “And to her old husband he took
her again” (st. 10), “But I neer was tormented so as with your wife.”
(st.11).
2.3. Stylistically neutral (basic) and stylistically marked vocabulary:
Formal: archaic words (dwell, chap, imp).

3. Historical-Cultural and Comparative background:

3.1. Child ballad # 278 (71 versions+2 in addenda). Firstly was recorded in 1846
(Dixon's “Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs”). However, it was entered on the
Stationers' Register June 24, 1630.
3.4 The ballad has its analogues in Scottish and American folklore. The curst wife,
terror to demons also circulates as a humorous tale throughout the world, including
the Orient, Europe, and Russia.
3.5. It is performed by Pete Seeger, Brian Peters, Séamus Ennis and others.
Patrick Sky, "A Harvest of Gentle Clang" (1966): "The Farmer's Curst Wife"
appears as Track 3 on Side 2.

4. Poetic Form: Scansion

4.1. 11 stanzas, 2 lines in each stanza (couplet/distich)
4.2. Rhyme scheme: aa
4.3. Euphony: end rhyme (masculine).

5. Bibliography:
https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch278.htm
http://www.contemplator.com/child/curstwif.html
https://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/C278.html
https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/bri/BRI00002.pdf