Hi,

Here's Sharp's version from Somerset. His notes are at the bottom of this post. There are several questions: One is what "swiffling round" means. The other is the obvious: Polly turning into the swan at the trial- which certainly is verified by the "mountain of snow" references - if in fact the snow is the swan returning instead of a ghost. Anyone? Swiffling? Supernatural?

Sharp says this in the JFSS a year later:

The supernatural element enters so rarely into the English Ballad that one is inclined to see in its occurrence an indication of Celtic origin. In the present case, this suspicion is perhaps strengthened by the presence of certain Irish characteristics in the tune.

The incidents related in the song are a strange admixture of fancy with matter of fact. I would hazard the suggestion that the ballad is the survival of a genuine piece of Celtic or, still more probably, of Norse imagination, and that the efforts made to account for the tragedy without resorting to the supernatural (e.g. the white apron, shower of rain, etc.) and of course the mention of the Assizes, are the work of a more modern and less imaginative generation of singers—C. J. S.


From: Folk Songs from Somerset: Gathered and Edited with Pianoforte Accompaniment edited by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson; 1905

SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR. -Sung by Lucy White and Louie Hooper 1903

1 Young Jim he went hunting with his dog and gun,
On purpose to shoot at some lily-white swan:
With his love peering round him he took her to be a swan,
So he shot his dear darling with a ratteling gun.

2 And when he came to her and found it was she,
His heart bled with sorrow till his eyes could not see,
Crying: Polly, dear Polly, my own heart's delight,
If you were but living you should be my bride.

3 He took up his gun and straightway went home,
Crying: Uncle, dear Uncle, do you know what I've done?
With my love swiffling round me I took her to be a swan,
So I shot my dear darling with a ratteling gun.

4 Then up spoke his Uncle with his hair growing gray:
You're sure to be hung if you do run away:
Stay at home in your country till the 'Sizes come on,
You never shall be hang-ed for the shooting of one.

5 In six weeks' time when the 'Sizes came on
Young Polly appeared in the form of a swan,
Crying: Jimmy, young Jimmy, young Jimmy is clear,
He never shall be hang-ed for the shooting of his dear.

Notes: No. 16. SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR.

Tune and words from Mrs. Lucy White of Hambridge.

The Rev. S. Baring Gould has published a version of this ballad under the title of "The Setting of the Sun," (Weekes & Co.). Both the words and melody of that sons; are, however, different from Mrs. White's, although the theme is the same.

Another version was given me by Mr. Clarence Rook, who heard it sung, twenty years ago, by a very old man at a harvest supper at Homestall, Doddington, Kent; (see the Folk Song Society's Journal, vol. II, p. 60) and I have noted down yet another version from Mrs. Glover of Huish Episcopi.

In each of these three versions an attempt is made to account for the mistake upon which the plot turns, by adducing reasons other than supernatural: e.g. it took place in the dusk,—during a shower of rain,—a white apron was tied over her head, —etc. I would hazard the suggestion that the ballad is the survival of a genuine piece of Celtic or, still more probably, of Norse imagination, and that the attempts to account for the tragedy without resort to the supernatural are the interpolations of a later and less imaginative generation.

It is certainly now rather unusual to meet with anything of the supernatural order in an English ballad; and some may see, in its occurrence in this song, an indication of Celtic origin. This suspicion is strengthened by the presence of' certain Irish characteristics in the tune. At the same time, the idea of changed shape is more Norse than Celtic, and such ballads as "Cold blows the wind," and "The cruel ship's carpenter," shew that the supernatural element is not necessarily un-English.

Richie