Ballad of Jamie Allan

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Flood Editions, Jan 1, 2007 - Poetry - 144 pages
Tom Pickard's Ballad of Jamie Allan recounts the true adventures of an eighteenth-century gypsy musician who lived on the English?Scottish Borders and died in Durham jail, serving a life sentence for stealing a horse. Though once patronized by dukes and earls, Allan lost their support as his wayward behavior began to exceed their own. His reputation as a great piper was matched only by his reputation as an outlaw or, in the words of Walter Scott, "a desperate reprobate."Drawing on newspaper accounts and court depositions, Pickard brings the ballad tradition to life with his own genius for the form. Through the words of his cohorts and contemporaries, Allan emerges as a spirit of the Borders, that wild and historically lawless region where rivers and fells set the stage for his captures and escapes.

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Contents

THE CHARM
1
HEY UP AND AWAY
7
MARCH HORSES
13
Copyright

11 other sections not shown

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About the author (2007)

Tom Pickard, a Newcastle-born writer who left school at 14 and fell swiftly under the spell of American Beat poetry and poets, was not only present at the birth of the British Poetry Revival in 1965 but also is credited with leading the charge. He is the author of 10 books of poetry and prose.

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