Grand Dissolving Views (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Singer, by a fireside, sees "a Grand Dissolving View" of poverty on one hand and of famous business men, authors, and monarchs. He hopes in the future rich may see the poor as brothers, and workhouses and prisons will be few.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: poverty death England nonballad political
FOUND IN:
Roud #V41824
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1394), "The Grand Dissolving Views ("While thinking of some past events at home the other night"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Dissolving Views (II)" (subject and form)
NOTES [133 words]: The first verses of "The Grand Dissolving Views" (I) and (II) are identical [causing Roud to lump them - RBW]; the second verses are almost identical in their portrayal of a poor family and they share one more verse comparing the fates of a swindler and poor thief. The question is "which is the original and which the derivative?" For a date, an 1875 broadside for another song lists "Grand Dissolving Views" as one of the newest songs (NLScotland, RB.m.143(144), "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls," The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1875).
The famous people cited include London investment banker George Peabody (1795-1869), writers Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and Robert Burns (1759-1796), heiress and philanthropist Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), and Queen Victoria (1819-1901) - BS
Last updated in version 5.1
File: BrdGDV1

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography