Editing Refrain (section)

==Usage in history==
Although repeats of refrains may use different words, refrains are made recognizable by reusing the same [[melody]] (when sung as music) and by preserving any [[rhyme]]s. For example, "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" contains a refrain which is introduced by a different phrase in each verse, but which always ends:

<blockquote>O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.</blockquote>

A similar refrain is found in the "[[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]", which affirms in successive verses that "Our God", or "His Truth", is "marching on."

Refrains usually, but not always, come at the end of the verse. Some songs, especially [[ballad]]s, incorporate refrains (or ''burdens'') into each verse. For example, one version of the traditional ballad "[[The Twa Sisters|The Cruel Sister]]" includes a refrain mid-verse:

<blockquote>There lived a lady by the North Sea shore,
:''Lay the bent to the bonny broom''
Two daughters were the babes she bore.
:''[[Deck the Halls|Fa la la la la la la la la]].''
As one grew bright as is the sun,
:''Lay the bent to the bonny broom''
So coal black grew the other one.
:''Fa la la la la la la la.''

:. . .</blockquote>

(Note: the refrain of "Lay the bent to the bonny broom" is not traditionally associated with the ballad of "The Cruel Sister" ([[Child Ballads|Child]] #10). This was the work of 'pop-folk' group [[Pentangle (band)|Pentangle]] on their 1970 LP ''[[Cruel Sister (Pentangle album)|Cruel Sister]]'' which has subsequently been picked up by many folk singers as being traditional. Both the melody and the refrain come from the ballad known as "[[Riddles Wisely Expounded]]" (Child #1).{{citation needed|date=June 2014}})

Here, the refrain is [[syntax|syntactically]] independent of the [[narrative poem]] in the song, and has no obvious relationship to its subject, and indeed little inherent meaning at all. The device can also convey material which relates to the subject of the poem. Such a refrain is found in [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]'s "Troy Town":<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iath.virginia.edu/rossetti/poems/1-1870ed1doc.html |title=Poems of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, inc. "Troy Town" |access-date=2003-11-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040225114223/http://www.iath.virginia.edu/rossetti/poems/1-1870ed1doc.html |archive-date=February 25, 2004 }}</ref>

{{Poem quote|Heavenborn Helen, Sparta's queen,
:''O Troy Town!''
Had two breasts of heavenly sheen,
The sun and moon of the heart's desire:
All Love's lordship lay between,
A sheen on the breasts I Love.
:''O Troy's down,''
:''Tall Troy's on fire!''

. . .}}

Phrases of apparent [[nonsense]] in refrains (''Lay the bent to the bonny broom?''), and [[syllable]]s such as ''fa la la'', familiar from the [[Christmas carol]] "[[Deck the Halls]] with Boughs of Holly", have given rise to much speculation. Some{{who?|date=November 2020}} believe that the traditional refrain ''Hob a derry down O'' encountered in some [[England|English]] [[folksong]]s is in fact an ancient [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] phrase meaning "dance around the oak tree." These suggestions remain controversial.{{fact|date=November 2020}}