If I understand the last part of Richard's post above 6.16 am, he is commenting that, though 'folk songs' are said to express the experiences of the 'folk', they don't tend to deal with the broad spectrum of life experiences.

I like the dry stone wall example, and at a guess the milkmaids and ploughboys, not to mention the 'bonny shepherd lads', may have built some of them!

So it would appear, then, that were some 'unwritten rules' to the effect that some topics were and some were not, suitable for making songs or ballads about. That it isn't simply a case of songs by the people reflecting the experiences of the people. I am thinking that these rules may have changed over time. So you won't find medieval songs about going on strike. Are there any songs about the Black Death?

Jack: Yes, I enjoyed the bit about lawsuits in Roud.

I worry about the aesthetics/folk poets thing. Partly this is subjective. Also because a lot of collected material is 'formulaic' in parts, with floating verses and floating 'bits', as Pettitt's piece makes clear. Also because if you go back to medieval times, ordinary people would have spoken in a variety of dialects, some more influenced by Viking language than others.

I'm thinking we would struggle to understand 'oral' versions of these, leave alone feel able to make aesthetic judgements about them.

And I'm not sure that Anglo-Saxon poetry/song even rhymed: it is said to use alliterative patterning, and to be highly rhthmical, which links to my point that 'music', which often makes use of rhythm, should be taken account of. And then there are the 'kennings'. But once again, we don't know, we can only guess.

I haven't time to link my points more clearly to the debates on Roud. Sorry.