“The Curragh of Kildare”

Description

"Oh, the winter it has passed, And the summer's come at last, The small birds are singing in the trees." The birds are glad, but the singer is weary of being apart from his love and will set out for the Curragh of Kildare to learn of her.

Notes

Roud lumps a great many "cold winter is passed" type pieces under his #583 -- an understandable decision, given the state of the pieces. We try to restrict this item to "The Curragh of Kildare" and "The Winter It Is Past," filing the others separately

Which form is actually earliest I don't know with certanty; I called the piece "The Curragh of Kildare" rather than "The Winter It Is Past," even though the latter form seems better-attested, to make it clear that the Burns version is *not* original. - RBW

Broadside Bodleian Harding B 16(55a), among others, refers to "the borough of Kildare" rather than "the curragh of Kildare." - BS

The "winter is past" lyric may have been suggested by Song of Solomon 2:11 (a scrap which has been set to music on occasion by classical composers), but this is at best only a possibility; the parallel is slight.

Slightly closer is the parallel to one of John Gower's early French ballades (I'm not sure which one; I have only a translation, found in Garnett and Gosse's _English Literature: An Illustrated Record_, pp. 184-185 with no catalog indication), since it mentions not only the passing of winter but the rejoicing of birds, and it's a lost love piece. But while the one may have suggested the other, I doubt real dependence. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Forglen (Forglen You Know, Strichen's Plantins)" (lyrics, form)

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 28(176), "Young Johnson" ("Cold winter's gone and past"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(635), Harding B 16(54c), Harding B 16(55a), Harding B 25(394), Harding B 11(636), "Cold Winter is Past"; Harding B 28(236), "Cold Winter"; Harding B 17(54a), "Cold Winter" or "Young Johnson"; Harding B 20(53), "Cold Winter's Gone and Past"

References

1. BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 291-293, "The Braes of Yarrow" (1 short text plus a fragment, 1 tune; the "A" text is a composite lost love song with single stanzas from "The Braes o Yarrow," "The Curragh of Kildare," and others beyond identification; as a whole it cannot be considered a version of Child #214) {Bronson's #37}
2. Karpeles-Newfoundland 54, "The Winter's Gone and Past" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. DT, CURRKILD*
4. Roud #583
5. BI, DTcurrki