A New Song.
Tune :- Yankee Doodle, Doodle Do.
Title:A New Song
Author:A.R. H–d-y
Publication:The Blackburn Standard
Published in:Blackburn
Date:Wednesday, December 18, 1861
Commentary
Set to the familiar tune of “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, this nationalistic song celebrates British military might and the possibility of intervention in the American Civil War to break the blockade by force. The combined strength of England and Scotland – the Rose and Thistle – is lauded. The historian Linda Colley has argued that the unity between these two nations was forged through the American War of Independence (see Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Second edition. (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2012), p.146). It is possible that the emphasis on Scottish and English co-operation serves as a reminder of this previous conflict, in spite of the resulting defeat for Britain, or perhaps suggesting that the piece is intended to satirise the brash nationalism of those who advocated intervention in full confidence of easy success. – RM.
In keeping with its stated purpose of song lyrics, the abiding feature of this piece is it repetition. Most obviously, this involves the term ‘sir’ at the end of every other line, which is mockingly formal but also represents a metric extension of the ballad metre. But there are also examples of anaphora (repeated line beginnings).- SR