The influence of English folk songs

The revival of folk songs at the end of 18 and the beginning of 19 is a noteworthy phenomenon in romantic literature. On the one hand, it is a response to heroic couplets, and its neoclassical poems 18 are neat and exquisite, on the other hand, it is also a reflection of the spiritual awakening of ordinary people. Robert burns, an early English romantic poet, made great contributions to the revival of English folk songs. His great contribution in the history of literature lies not only in his creation of many popular folk songs in Scottish dialect, but also in his long-term collection and arrangement of Scottish folk songs, thus preserving a large number of endangered folk songs.

WilliamWordsworth, the poet of "lake poets", also has a special liking for English ballads. His "Lucy's Poetry" is a classic work written in folk style. English folk songs have played a positive role in promoting romanticism. The works that have the greatest influence on romanticism are two collections of English poetry that appeared in 1865: Selected English Ancient Poems and Ossian Collection. Selected English Ancient Poems was edited by Bishop Thomas Percy, and the anthology mainly collected English and Scottish folk songs. Ossian was collected, edited and published by Scottish poet James Maikefeisen, while Ossian was an Irish bard. After their publication, these two poems attracted people's attention because of their majestic and lofty contents, simple and frank forms and natural liveliness, thus creating a "folk revival activity" in Britain.