While the 'rose and briar' motif stands out, some of the other symbolic motifs are, I think, well worth discussing as they make the ballads as powerful and as beautiful they are.
I particularly like the personification of the moon in 'Sir Patrick Spens'; "I saw the new moon late yester e'en with the old moon in its arms".
One of the most beautiful symbols for me is to be found in 'Gil Morice'; "I once was full of Gil Morice as the hip is of the stone"; when you think of the very thin layer of flesh around the stone of a rose hip it is a perfect description of pregnancy in its later stages.
Not to labour a point, these echo the everyday speech of working people.
I was lucky enough to be given access to some of the actuality recorded for 'The Radio Ballads' which is full of examples of poetic use of speech; Sam Larner in particular with his "shimmer of herrings" and "living gales"; Belle Stewart's "There'll always be Travellers on the road... till Doomsday in the afternoon".
In 'John Axon', one railway worker described being a railwayman thus, "railways run through you like Blackpool runs through rock" (probably not very comprehensible to a non-Brit).
Miners speech was exceptionally rich with their stories and descriptions of work, mainly un-broadcast; their off-hand and often very humorous funny attitude to death sticks stood out.
I remember such use of language when I was an apprentice on the docks in Liverpool - the overhead railway that ran the length of the dock system (like the New York El) was referred to as "The Docker's Umbrella" because that's where they sheltered when it was raining; because of its shape, when the new Catholic Cathedral was built it was given the name, "Paddy's Wigwam".
Jim Carroll