Sweet William's Ghost (

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77,

Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

br>50
is an English Ballad and

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

which exists in many lyrical variations and musical arrangements. Early known printings of the song include Allan Ramsay's ''

The Tea-Table Miscellany ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' in 1740 and Thomas Percy's ''

Reliques of Ancient English Poetry The ''Reliques of Ancient English Poetry'' (sometimes known as ''Reliques of Ancient Poetry'' or simply Percy's ''Reliques'') is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765. Sources The basis ...

'' in 1765. Percy believed that the last two stanzas of the version he published were later additions, but that the details of the story they recounted (specifically the death of Margaret upon William's grave) were original. The song is Aarne-Thompson type 365, "The Specter Bridegroom".

Synopsis

A lover, usually named William or a variant, appears as a

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

to his love, usually Margaret or a variant. He asks her to release him from his promise to marry her. She may insist that he actually marry her, but he says that he is dead; she may insist that he kiss her, but he says that one kiss would kill her; she may insist on some information about the afterlife, and he tells her some of it; he may tell her that his promise to marry her is a

hellhound A hellhound is a mythological hound that embodies a guardian or a servant of hell, the devil, or the underworld. Hellhounds occur in mythologies around the world, with the best known examples being Cerberus from Greek mythology, Garmr from N ...

that will destroy him if she does not free him. In the end she always releases him from his promise, although in some versions she then dies upon his grave.

Motifs

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

claimed to have been told a similar story by a woman in

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, and based his poem ''Advertisement to the Pirate'' upon it.Barry Taylor
"Lady Margaret"
/ref> He recounted the story of a woman who, finding her lover dead in London, touched his hand to free herself from the visit of his ghost.

Variants

The ballad shows the influence of '' Clerk Saunders'' and ''

Proud Lady Margaret "Proud Lady Margaret" is Child ballad 47, existing in several variants. Synopsis A man arrives at the heroine's castle to woo her. She is frequently critical of him, on the grounds that his clothing shows him to be no gentleman. In most variant ...

''. Other ballads with a similar theme include *"

Fair Margaret and Sweet William "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" ( Child 74, Roudbr>253 is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, of whom either one or both die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his folio and said that it was quoted as early as 16 ...

" *"

The Unquiet Grave "The Unquiet Grave" is an English folk song in which a young man's grief over the death of his true love is so deep that it disturbs her eternal sleep. It was collected in 1868 by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 78. One of the more comm ...

" A Canadian version of this ballad exists entitled "Lady Margaret", similar in structure to an American ballad of the same name based upon "

". This form of ballad is also known in many Scandinavian variants (

TSB Banking A trustee savings bank is a type of financial institution. * In the United Kingdom: ** Trustee Savings Bank, a bank in the United Kingdom that merged with Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB until 2013 ** Lloyds TSB, the name used by ...

A 67), although the ghost returns not for its freedom from its pledge, but because the woman's grief is harming it.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 228, Dover Publications, New York 1965 This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in ''Ballads Weird and Wonderful'' (1912) and illustrated by

Vernon Hill (sculptor) Vernon Hill (1887–1972), born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, was a sculptor, lithographer, illustrator and draughtsman. He began his work in print-making and lithography, and branched out into other artistic forms, such as sculpture. He il ...

References

External links

{{Authority control English folk songs Songs about ghosts Child Ballads Fictional ghosts Year of song unknown 18th-century ballads ATU 300-399

Synopsis

Motifs

Variants

See also

References

External links