Rather than tracing particular national literatures, Gummere asks how poetry arose as a social institution. He argues that rhythm is its essential fact, sets the communal song of the dancing throng against the poetry of the individual artist, and weighs evidence from ballads, folk refrains, anthropology and early English verse to show how the artist eventually triumphed.
A landmark of ballad and folklore scholarship for readers curious about where poetry comes from. Download the free EPUB.