Content area
Full Text
Morning Dew and Roses: Nuance, Metaphor, and Meaning in Folksongs. By Barre Toelken. A Publication of the American Folklore Society, New Series. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995. Pp. xiii + 189, dedication, preface, epilogue, chapter notes, list of works cited, index. $32.95 cloth)
Morning Dew and Roses: Nuance, Metaphor, and Meaning in Folksongs explores the rich semantic terrain of erotic metaphor in selected AngloAmerican (English, Scottish, and American), German, and Austrian folksongs. The book is the work of a mature scholar of folksong, who, bridging the gap between folkloristic fieldwork and literary explication, has given us an insightful analysis of the function, within folksong performances, of vernacular imagery: its culturally based nuances and poetic ambiguities, if not its politics. Eminently readable and thus easily accessible by a broad range of readers, Morning Dew and Roses is an excellent introduction to metaphor, folksong, and bawdry, as well as performance and culture (whether broadly imagined or more locally situated).
Beginning with a brief introduction to the history of folksong scholarship, Toelken quickly moves to frame his study of metaphor and folksong within a...