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A. L. Lloyd and Reynardine: authenticity and authorship in the afterlife of a British broadside ballad
Folklore, Dec, 2004 by Stephen D. Winick
By contrast, an analysis by Renwick, which catalogues thirteen ways in which traditional songs warn against tragic sexual experiences, shows that many of the erotic songs are about men trying to take advantage of women (Renwick 1980). Gammon generally agrees with Renwick on this point, stating that the songs often perform an "educative or warning function" for girls (Gammon 1982, 235). Both suggest that Lloyd's peasant world of happy sex with light consequences is highly romanticised, and Gammon uses that very word to describe Lloyd's approach (Gammon 1982, 238). The closing verse of "Reynardine" broadsides, in which the girl warns "beware of meeting Reynardine," puts the song in precisely the categories outlined by Gammon and Renwick, and Lloyd's failure to include that verse in his reconstruction is one example of the song's romanticisation.
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Lloyd's changes went much further than the removal of one verse, however; he completely remade the song. This action was prompted by another approach to authenticity common both in the Romantic movement and among romantics generally: what we might term "experiential authenticity." In Bendix's characterisation this is "authenticity as ... a quality of experience: the chills running down one's spine during musical performances, for instance ..." (Bendix 1997, 13-14). For a romantic given to imagination and emotion, experiential authenticity is paramount. Thus, if Lloyd the scholar was concerned that a song be a true expression of the anonymous folk, Lloyd the romantic needed it to impart an aesthetic thrill.
As we will see, what thrilled Lloyd about "Reynardine" was a mystery about Reynardine's nature that had been brewing for a half century by the time Lloyd found the ballad. Ever since Hughes's 1908 note, the protagonist's essence had been in dispute. Was the character supernatural or mortal? The old woman who gave Hughes a stanza claimed that Reynardine was a fairy-fox. This certainly makes sense of Reynardine's name, which, from its morphological roots, should mean "fox-like," or perhaps "little fox."
For the most part, however, folksong scholars have been unenthusiastic about the idea that Reynardine is a supernatural being. Laws, who comments on the song several times in American Balladry from British Broadsides (1957), never mentions a supernatural explanation for the ballad, preferring to interpret Reynardine as a recluse and possibly an outlaw. According to DeNatale, most collectors working in North America, where the song had some currency in twentieth-century oral tradition, also do not ascribe a supernatural nature to Reynardine (DeNatale 1980, 45). Those who have asked their informants generally find that they consider Reynardine an ordinary person. In his admirable summary of this question, DeNatale notes "most singers apparently attach no supernatural significance to the song" (ibid.).
Hughes's informant aside, there is also no sound evidence from early texts that "Reynardine" was conceived of as a supernatural being. There is certainly no reason to make such an assumption on the basis of his name. The name "Reynardine" has been taken as the standard form by some folklorists for no very good reason, except that Hughes's informant connected the character with a fox. However, this name, which is the song's only obvious connection to foxes, does not actually appear in most of the texts from oral or broadside sources. More often, he is "Ranordine," "Rinordine," "Rinor Dine," "Ryner Dyne," "Rynadine," or even "Randal Rhin" or "Randal Rine." DeNatale asserts that "while 'Ranordine,' 'Randal Rine' or 'Rinordine' could have derived from 'Reynardine,' it is difficult to imagine a transition in the other direction" (DeNatale 1980, 48). But it need not be difficult. Holloway and Black believe the original name was "Randal Ryan," and "Reynold Ryan" is another plausible possibility (Holloway and Black 1975, 184). [11]
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