Bran E-Book

Elizabeth Gaskell

• Herausgeber: Elizabeth Gaskell
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

“Bran” (Elizabeth Gaskell 1853):this ballad commemorates the great Battle of Kerloan fought in the tenth century. Kerloan is a small village a the coast of the country of Leon, one of the ancient divisions of Brittany.....

Leseprobe

Bran

By

Elizabeth Gaskell

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A poem in octosyllabic couplets, ‘Bran’ appeared in Household Words on 22 October 1853. Possibly, like ‘Sketches among the Poor, No. 1’, this was jointly produced by husband and wife (who may have met the original Breton tale while holidaying in France that summer). The ballad related how the hero’s mother crossed the sea to ransom her son, only to discover a lifeless Bran; for, misled by a deceitful jailor, he had died in despair of her ever arriving. The conclusion illustrates those traditional beliefs of Brittany which represent the dead as re-appearing in the guise of birds. Doubtless Mrs. Gaskell was drawn to the tale by its inherent poetry and pathos. by the devotion of Bran’s mother, and by the legendary returning of the dead. The versification is competent, and the narrative easy-flowing.

(Sharps, Mrs. Gaskell’s Observation and Invention, 173)

“Bran”

This ballad commemorates the great Battle of Kerloan fought in the tenth century. Kerloan is a small village a the coast of the country of Leon, one of the ancient divisions of Brittany. Evan the Great then and there challenged the men of the North (Normans). The illustrious Breton chief compelled them to retreat; but they carried away many prisoners when they embarked; and among them, was a warrior named Bran, grandson of an earl of the same name, who is often mentioned in the Acts of Brittany. Near Kerloan, on the sea-coast, there still exists a small village, where most probably Bran was made prisoner. It may be necessary to add that Breton traditions frequently represent the dead appearing in the form of birds, and that the love of country and of home, is to this day a passionate feeling among the Bretons. Bran, besides being a man’s name, signifies also a crow in the Breton language.

I.

WOUNDED sore was the youthful knight,

Grandson of Bran, at Kerloan fight.

In that bloody field by the wild sea-shore,

Last of his race, was he wounded sore.

Dear did we pay, though we won that day;

Lost was our darling - borne far, far away.

Borne o’er the sea to a dungeon tower,

Helpless he wept in the foeman’s power.

“Comrades, ye triumph with mirth and cheer,

While I lie wounded and heart-sick here!

“O find a messenger true for me,

To bear me a letter across the sea.”

A messenger true they brought him there,

And the young knight warned him thus with care:

“Lay now that dress of thine aside,

And in beggar’s weeds thy service hide.

“And take my ring, my ring of gold,

And wrap it safe in some secret fold.

“But, once at my mother’s castle gate,

That ring will gain admittance straight;

“And O, if she comes to ransom me,