Tam Lin Balladry

The Tam Lin Resources Page

Reference Books Scholarly Web Sites Movies Plays Published Stories Web Fiction

This page is designed to provide a beginning list of references for further study and interest about Tam Lin. It lists books which contain versions of Tam Lin, books based on Tam Lin, websites about Tam Lin, and other such resources. Many of these books have been used to build this website, so it's also the website bibliography of sorts. If there's a book or reference I've left out, please feel free to contact me with updated information.
This information is by no means complete. Much of it was gathered from usenet discussions on the topic and may be flawed or fragmented.

Reference books

Books containing versions of the ballad and/or other information, linked to web sites where appropriate. Free e-texts are listed in bold. Please note, many of these books are out of print.

• Ballad Book MacEdward Leach
  Oak Tree Publications, 1955, 1977
• A Collection of Ballads By Andrew Lang
  (link goes to Project Guttenberg free on-line text)
• The Digital Traditions Data Base maintained by Dick Greenhaus
  (link goes to website)
• English and Scottish Popular Ballads Francis James Child, 1882-1898
• English and Scottish Popular Ballads Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kitterage
• An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Katherine Briggs
  New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1976
• Faber Book of Ballads Matthew Hodgert, editor
• Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies by Anna Franklin
  Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005
• Ministrelsy of the Scottish border By Sir Walter Scott
• More English Fairy Talesby Joseph Jacobs
• New Oxford book of English Verse 1250 - 1950 Helen Gardner
  Oxford University press, 1996
• Old English Ballads Francis B. Gummere
  Folcroft Library, 1894, 1897
• Oxford Book of English Verse 1250 - 1918 Sir Arthur Quiller-couch
• Oxford Book of Narrative Verse Iona Opre and Peter Opie
  Oxford University Press, 1989
• The Oxford book of Ballads Sir Arthur Quiller-couch
  Oxford University Press, 1982
• Oxford Book of Scottish Verse John McQueen and Tom Scott
  Oxford University Press, 1989
• The Penguin Book of Ballads edited by Geoffrey Grigson
  Viking Press, 1976
• The Penguin Book of Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking WorldAlbert B. Friedman
  Penguin Books
• Robert Kirk: Walker Between Worlds R.J. Stewart
  Longmead, UK: Element Books, 1990
  (Link goes to website)
• The Silver Bough vol.1 Marian McNeil
  Edinburgh: Canongate Classics, 1956
• the Scots Musical Museum 1787-1803 Robert Burns and James Johnson
  Amadeus Press, 1991
• The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads Bertrand Harris Bronson
  Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey: 1959
• Worldmaking Spenser: Explorations in the Early Modern Age edited by Patrick Gerard Cheney, Lauren Silberman
  University Press of Kentucky, 1999

Tam Lin Related Web Sites

• From Legends - Ballads and Broadsides, a collection of other links on the web, and some nice commentary.
• The Annotated Dean a site dedicated to one of the books based on Tam Lin
• Obsidian magazine's Joann Keesey did a wonderful article on the ballad in their second issue. While the article is highly recommended, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the scholarship and beauty of the rest of the magazine as well.
• Burns's Tam Lin version and some notes from Burns.
• The Francis James Child Website has several versions of Tam Lin and some of Chidl's notes.
• Francis J. Child Ballads Online a site devoted to the Child Ballads.
• Scotsman Online article on Scotland's first fairy tale (requires registration)
• Tam Lin, Fair Janet, and the Sexual Revolution: Traditional Ballads, Fairy Tales, and Twentieth-Century Children's Literature by Martha Hixon appearing in the journal Marvels and Tales Volume 18, Number 1, 2004.


Not Strictly Tam-Lin related but interesting sites on the general topic of folklore and such. These sites are worth a look to gain a better base of knowledge.
• Analysis and Intrepretation of Folk and Fairy Tales
• - South Australian Folk Centre - Song Database on the Net
• John Barleycorn and other Poems
• Active Heroines stories for stronger females.
• Tam Lin The musical Group




Movies based on Tam Lin

linked to amazon.com

• Tam Lin starring Ava Gardner, Ian McShane
  later renamed The Devil's Widow
• A good review of the movie at Greenman Reviews.
• There's a movie in the works by Neil Gaiman (as of 7/2003)
• Tam Lin (1982; never released)




Plays Based On Tam Lin

• Tam Lin Play by MacGoddess (Pdf file. For website, see here.
• Tam Lin, a Barrayaran Shakespeare Play by Jo Walton
• Tam Lin by Nancy McClernan
  

Published Stories Based on or Inspired by Tam Lin

Note: Many out of Print. Links go to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted, which helps support this site. Some of these books are based more strictly on the story of Tam Lin while other may have a different central focus but share theme or symbolism. Please note that in some cases knowing the story has Tam Lin elements may give away portions of the plot. Or help explain them.

• Tales, Then and Now: More Folktales as Literary Fiction for Young Adults by Anna E. Altmann and Gail de Vos
• Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear (due out June 2006, first three chapters currently available for free online)
• Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale By Holly Black (link to author's website)
• Freedom & Necessity by Steven Brust and Emma Bull
• Tam Lin by Susan Cooper
• Out of the Ordinary by Annie Dalton
• Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
• A White Horse with Wings by Anthea Davies
• Tam Lin (The Fairy Tale Series) by Pamela Dean
• The Final Encyclopedia by Gordon R. Dickson
• Things That Go Bump In The Night By Phil Foglio, appearing in issue #11 of xxxenophile magazine. Please note that this is an adult-oriented comic site, and should not be visited by those under 18 years of age.
• Red shift by Alan Garner
  (note: Charles Butler's essay on Tam Lin and Red Shift)
• Venetia by Georgette Heyer
• Tam Lin by Katherine A. Hurley. Link goes to Pookatales.com, a producer of wonderful minature books.
• The Queen of Spells by Dahlov Zorach Ipcar
• Tamlane in More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
• The Red Cloak by Betsy James
• Wild Robin by Susan Jeffers
• Fire and Hemlock by Diane Wynne Jones
• The Enchanted Forest: A Scottish Fairytale by Rosalind Kerven, illustrated by Alan Marks
• Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
• Summer's End: Stories of Ghostly Lovers. by Ann Lawrence
• Noble-Hearted Kate: A Celtic Tale by Marianna Mayer
• Never Let Go by Geraldine McCaughrean and Jason Cockcroft
• Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip
• An Earthly Knight by Janet McNaughton (link to author's website)
• Hold Me Fast, Don't Let Me Pass by Alice Munro, short story in the book Friend of My Youth
• The Nightwood by Robin Muller
• Silverlockby John Myers Myers
• The Dogs Of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
• Tatterhood and Other Tales: Stories of Magic and Adventure by Ethel Johnston Phelps
• The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
• Lords and Ladies : A Novel of Discworld by Terry Prachett
• Cold Tom by Sally Prue
• Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Ragan, Jane Yolen
• Phantom Banjo, Picking the Ballad's Bones, and Strum Again? by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
• Alice Brand (part of The Lady of the Lake ) By Sir Walter Scott
• Thursdayby Catherine Storr
• Deersnake by Lucy Sussex
• BeautyBy Sherri S. Tepper (some references)
• Tam Lin (in the graphic novel series Ballads and Sagas) edited by Charles Vess.
• Tam Lin by Joan D. Vinge (short story appearing in Imaginary Lands edited by Robin McKinley
• Book of Hate by Kathleen Yearwood
• Burd Janet in Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls by Jane Yolen (compilator)
• Cards of Grief by Jane Yolen
• The Books of Great Alta by Jane Yolen
• Tam Lin : An Old Ballad by Jane Yolen, Charles Mikolaycak (illustrator)

On-line Stories and FanFiction

Short parodies and some filk can also be found on this site at Tam Lin Parodies

Please Note: Some of these stories may have content not suitable for those under the age of 18.
Stories particularly recommended by the webmistress marked in bold.

• The Double Rose Jane Lebak (Gatchaman Fanfic) (web archive)
• Kind Eyes by Fernwithy (Harry Potter Fanfiction)
• Monster, Goblin, Faerie, Knight by Rabbit (part of Yuletide 2006)
• My Kingdom By Hannah Wolf Bowen
• Of Leaves of Gold and Petals Red: A Faery Tale By Ithilwen
• Remember Tam Lin by Dame Mehri (Highlander Fanfiction) (web archive)
• Summer's Lease by eluki bes shahar
• The Tale of Tam Lin, the Elf Knight by Bridget Haggerty
• Tam Lin by Aislinn
• Tam Lin by Michelle Hiley (West Wing Fanfic)
• Tam Lin By Jesse Kirchner
• Tam Lin Author Unlisted
• Tam Lin Author unlisted (web archive)
• Tam Lin, a Barrayaran Shakespeare Play by Jo Walton
• Tam Lin, or The Seven-Year King (Who Forgot His Name) by Sinope (part of Yuletide 2006)
• Tamlane from More English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
• Tam Lin Styles Author Unlisted
• Tam-lin By E H Hopkinson




Tam Lin Balladry

Versions of Tam Lin Exploring the Ballad of Tam Lin The Music of Tam Lin Comparing Tam Lin to Other Tales Communicating at Tam Lin Scotland and Tam Lin Tam Lin Oddities Search Tam Lin


© 1997 - present Abigail Acland for all original works unless otherwise noted.



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