Week 12 Reading Notes, Part A

The Ballads of Robin Hood

I initially chose to read The Ballads of Robin Hood because of my preexisting familiarity with the legend of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. Before reading this collection, I had seen the Disney movie and had heard a little about the legend of Robin Hood, but I wouldn't say I was extremely familiar with the origin or specific details of the story. All that to say, I was eager to read more about Robin Hood, especially because of the format in which it is presented. Before this reading, I had never come across a collection of stories presented solely in lyrics/musical numbers. The feat of interpretation proved to be a little difficult at first, but after reading several of the stories in Part A I became more accustomed to and even grew to like this new form of story-telling. Although all of the stories were very interesting and gave me a brand-new perspective on the story of Robin Hood, I really enjoyed reading the first story entitled Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham. 

The author's note at the beginning of this piece reads: "If you are starting out with an idealized view of Robin Hood, you may be surprised by the way he is portrayed in the old ballads, as here. As his career first takes shape, he's more like a defiant gangster than a Hollywood hero." This warning caught my eye, as the only information I knew about Robin Hood before reading this story was what I had seen in the Disney movie. This note allowed me to assume that my perception of Robin Hood would most likely be altered upon reading this collection. The first thing that we learn about Robin Hood in this story is that he is bold and has no fear. When he first arrives in Nottingham, he stumbles upon some forresters and almost immediately challenges them to a shooting match. When the forresters begin to doubt Robin Hood because of his age and stature, Robin Hood becomes determined to show them what he was made of. He tells them that he will hit a mark a hundred rod and cause a hart to die and then he actually does it, despite their doubt. Still unimpressed, the forresters continued to taunt Robin Hood until he became so bothered that he killed 14 of the 15 that were there. 

At the beginning of the story we are shown how brave and bold Robin Hood is. This character is similar to the one that I was familiar with before reading this story. I was not, however, familiar with the side of Robin Hood that took pride in killing large groups of people, even if it was prompted by taunting. I now see what the initial author's note was saying about Robin Hood having more in common with a malicious gangster than a Hollywood Hero. All in all, I felt that this story showed me the importance of both a detailed author's note and specific and sequential character development.

If I were to rewrite this story, I would probably try and reformat the story to where it was not told using lyrics and songs.

Statue of Robin Hood at Nottingham Castle, Wikimedia

Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898). Blogspot