“I’LL PLOUGH IN FRONT OF THE EYE HOSPITAL...” - A NEW STYLE BALLAD
“I’LL PLOUGH IN FRONT OF THE EYE HOSPITAL...” - A NEW STYLE BALLAD
Author(s): Tamás GrynaeusSubject(s): Cultural history, Poetry, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Theory of Literature
Published by: Akadémiai Kiadó
Keywords: hospital ballad; beginning of twentieth century; lacking tragedy; doctor “hero”; patient “hero”; spread in the eastern part of Hungary;
Summary/Abstract: The hero of new style “hospital ballads” is either the patient or a well-known, highly esteemed eye specialist or head surgeon of a regional hospital. In the ballads, he is usually a real historical person mentioned by name. On the basis of these data, it can be claimed that the ballads were composed in the 20s or 30s of the twentieth century. A fragmentary text, lacking real tragedy of ballads and interwoven with lyric elements, was collected in 1961 in Orosháza (Békés County, South-East Hungary). Some variants of the “hospital ballad” collected earlier and several other variants found later as well as similar pieces show that it must have been a well-known, popular folk poetry genre, at least in the eastern part of the Hungarian language area.
Journal: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica
- Issue Year: 49/2004
- Issue No: 3-4
- Page Range: 343-350
- Page Count: 8
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF
