finelythreadedsky:

Classical Literature and Folk Ballads: her husband lost at sea

Sir Patrick Spens (Child 58/Roud 41), c. 18th century

Ovid, Metamorphoses ix.677-683, c. 8 ce: awoken from her slumber by the sound and sight of her own dear husband/ Alycone shook off sleep and first looked about to see whether he who had just appeared/ was still there, since the servants had been roused by her cry/ and had brought lights, and when she could not find him/ she struck her face and tore her clothes from her chest/ and beat her breast and took no heed to unbind her hair/ but tore it.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, 1990 (from April 24, 1794 entry)

Rupert Bunny, Penelope, first half of the 20th century

Lady Franklin’s Lament/The Ballad of Lord Franklin (Roud 487), c. 1850

Lady Franklin’s Lament/The Ballad of Lord Franklin (Roud 487), variant from Edinburgh broadside c. 1852