Folklore: From the Working Folk of America

by Tristram Potter Coffin

"This collection of fascinating lore derives from the occupations of American workers, including the farmer, hunter, trapper, prospector, fisherman, preacher, railroad man, teamster, cab driver, student, river pilot, soldier, cowboy, root doctor and many others."

Genres: Fairy Tales

Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Tristram (“Tris”) Potter Coffin was an American folklorist and leading scholar of ballad texts in the 20th century. Coffin spent the bulk of his career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a professor of English and a co-founder of the Folklore Department. He was the author of 20 books and more than 100 scholarly articles and reviews.

Reviews

[Kacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that the stories were succint and easy to remember. The short stories would be easy to tell to younger audiences, because they would not lose interest; however the stories were often bland and lacked a climax or detail. I found the book useful because the more I read, the more I noticed about the old culture of the United States. Many of the stories were about farming and Native Americans and it painted a picture of the "Old West" for me. The jargon also painted a picture of the working class of America because it was much less formal than I am used to, for example in the dialect, many of the gerunds were lacking the full -ing ending and instead used -in' ending. I would have to put my own spin on the folklore from this book to make it interesting for my audiences, but I think it could provide great stories for the Native American or Colorado history units.