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To many observers, folklore and book culture may appear to be opposites. Folklore, after all, involves orally circulated stories and traditions while book culture is concerned with the transmission of written texts. However, as Kevin J. Hayes points out, there are many instances where the two intersect, and exploring those intersections is the purpose of this fascinating and provocative study. Hayes shows that the acquisition of knowledge and the ownership of books have not displaced folklore but instead have given rise to new beliefs and superstitions. Some books have generated new proverbs; others have fostered their own legends. Occasionally the book has served as an important motif in folklore, and in one folk genre—the flyleaf rhyme—the book itself has become the place where folklore occurs, thus indicating a lively interaction between folk, print, and manuscript culture. The author begins by examining the tradition of the Volksbücher—cheaply printed books, often concerned with the occult, whose powers are said to transcend the written text. Hayes looks in depth at one particular Volksbuch—The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses—and proceeds, in subsequent chapters, to discuss a variety of folktales and legends, placing them within the context of book culture and the history of education. He closes with an examination of flyleaf rhymes, the little verses that book owners have inscribed in their books, and considers what they reveal about the identity of the inscribers as well as about attitudes toward book lending, book borrowing, and the circulation of knowledge. Solidly researched and venturing into areas long neglected by scholars. Folklore and Book Culture is a work that will engage not only folklorists but historians and literary scholars as well.
In recent decades, there has been a growing recognition of the significance of the supernatural in a Victorian context. Studies of nineteenth-century spiritualism, occultism, magic, and folklore have highlighted that Victorian England was ridden with spectres and learned magicians. Despite this growing body of scholarship, little historiographical work has addressed the Devil. This book demonstrates the significance of the Devil in a Victorian context, emphasising his pervasiveness and diversity. Drawing on a rich array of primary material, including theological and folkloric works, fiction, newspapers and periodicals, and broadsides and other ephemera, it uses the diabolic to explore the Victorians' complex and ambivalent relationship with the supernatural. Both the Devil and hell were theologically contested during the nineteenth century, with an increasing number of both clergymen and laypeople being discomfited by the thought of eternal hellfire. Nevertheless, the Devil continued to play a role in the majority of English denominations, as well as in folklore, spiritualism, occultism, popular culture, literature, and theatre. The Devil and the Victorians will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth-century English cultural and religious history, as well as the darker side of the supernatural.
This collection of essays is not interested in the unresolved questions about the origin, original use, and authentic meaning of the prehistoric monuments of the British Isles. It is not concerned with their prehistory. Rather it deals with the history of barrows, standing stones, and stone circles: with the ways in which they have been viewed, the meanings that have been attributed to them, and the significant impact that they have had over the centuries on British life and culture – from motivating artists, authors, musicians and film-makers to inspiring ‘New Age’ religions. It is thus as interested in stones commonly believed to be megaliths – like the foundation stones of the chapel in the Dartmoor village of South Zeal – as in ‘real’ remains. In her recent study of Stonehenge, the historian Rosemary Hill asserted: ‘Stonehenge does not belong to archaeology, or not to archaeology alone’. Likewise, this book is not written primarily for archaeologists – or not for the interest of archaeologists alone. It will also be of interest to social and cultural historians, to those interested in fine art, literature or film, and to anyone fascinated by the construction of national, local, or counter-cultural identities. It should also intrigue anybody who lives near one of the thousands of prehistoric remains that add beauty and mystery to Britain’s countryside. The book surveys over eight hundred years of rediscovery, study, superstition, inspiration, fear, restoration, and destruction, investigating how different generations saw their own anxieties, beliefs and concerns reflected in the mysterious lives of the prehistoric builders. By discussing the many different ways in which prehistoric remains have been treated in different periods, the book interrogates any notion of objective approaches to archaeology. Instead, it asserts that what we think of as ‘the past’ is in fact multiple and man-made. Thus, if we are to effectively interpret and fully understand the prehistoric remains of the past, a variety of disciplines and a range of approaches – both traditional and unconventional – will need to work together. For this reason, this book has been produced as a jointly-authored text – a collaboration between archaeologists, folklorists, historians, journalists, and literary critics.
From the demise of ancient Roman spectacles (c. 400 AD) to a new class of professional players by the 16th-century. Excellent accounts of wandering minstrels, mimes, mummers, miracle and morality plays, puppet shows, dramatic pageants, liturgical plays and much more.