Bonny Barbara Allen - Lecture notes klmm PDF

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Bonny Barbara Allan (The briar and the rose) Introduction “Barbara Allan” is a traditional ballad that originated in Scotland. The first written reference to it occurred in 1666 in The Diary of Samuel Pepys, where Pepys praises it after watching a stage performance sung by an actress. It appeared in a collection of popular songs compiled in 1740 by Allan Ramsay, the Tea-Table Miscellany, and then it was included in Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry in 1765. But like most ballads, it probably existed in oral tradition long before Pepys’s reference or these eighteenth-century publications. As are all traditional ballads, “Barbara Allan” is a narrative song, or a song that tells a story. Ballads tell their stories directly, with an emphasis on climactic incidents, by stripping away those details that are not essential to the plot. In this case, the ballad tells of a woman who rejects her lover because he has “slighted” her and hurt her feelings. As is typical, “Barbara Allan” does not give many details about the background incident, but merely refers to it as the event that triggers the action. Barbara’s lover dies of a broken heart from her rejection of him, and after his death, she realizes her mistake. That realization results in her own death, also of a broken heart. Their tragic love seems to live on, though, in the symbolic intertwining of the rose and briar that grow from their graves. Poem Text 1 It was in and about the Martinmas time, When the green leaves were a-falling, That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country, Fell in love with Barbara Allan. 2 He sent his man down through the town, To the place where she was dwelling: “O haste and come to my master dear, Gin ye be Barbara Allan.” 3 O hooly, hooly rose she up, To the place where he was lying, And when she drew the curtain by: “Young man, I think you’re dying.” 4 “O it’s I’m sick, and very, very sick, And ‘tis a’ for Barbara Allan.” “O the better for me ye s’ never be, Though your heart’s blood were a-spilling. 5 “O dinna ye mind, young man,” said she, “When ye was in the tavern a drinking, That ye made the healths gae round and round, And slighted Barbara Allan?” 6 He turned his face unto the wall, And death was with him dealing: “Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, And be kind to Barbara Allan.”

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7 And slowly, slowly raise she up, And slowly, slowly left him, And sighing said, she could not stay, Since death of life had reft him. 8 She had not gane a mile but twa, When she heard the dead-bell ringing, And every jow that the dead-bell geid, It cried, “Woe to Barbara Allan!” 9 “O mother, mother, make my bed! O make it saft and narrow! Since my love died for me to-day, I’ll die for him to-morrow.” 10 They buried her in the old churchyard, And Sir John’s grave was nigh her. And from his heart grew a red, red rose, And from her heart a briar. 11 They grew to the top o’ the old church wall, Till they could grow no higher, Until they tied a true love’s knot— The red rose and the briar.

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Style “Barbara Allan” uses the standard ballad structure, an ABCB quatrain (a four-line stanza with rhymes occurring at the end of lines two and four). The ballad stanza also typically alternates in meter, so that the first and third lines of each quatrain have four stresses, and the second and fourth lines have three stresses. “Barbara Allan” holds to this pattern, as is shown in the following example: They grew to the top o’ the old church wall, Till they could grow no higher, Until they tied a true love’s knot— The red rose and the brier. The rhymes in this last stanza are “higher” and “brier,” and the metrical stresses follow the 4-3-4-3 quatrain pattern.

Lines 1 -4

Lines 5 -8 Lines 9 -12

Lines 13-14 Lines 15-16

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Lines 21-24

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Lines 29-32

Lines 33-36 Lines 37-40

Lines 41-44

The poem begins by noting that Sir John Graeme fell in love with Barbara Allan in the autumn. The “green leaves” suggest a romantic, pastoral setting appropriate for the lovers, however the fact that they are “falling” suggests a note of sadness to this affair right from its start. Sir John sends a servant to fetch Barbara Allan. The servant asks her to hurry and go to Sir John if she is indeed the woman for whom the message is intended, Barbara Allan. Barbara Allan does not hurry, as shown by the repetition of the word “hooly,” which emphasizes her slow movement. She goes to Sir John and finds him lying behind a curtain, apparently on his deathbed. She does not express any pity for him, but instead states, matter of factly, that he appears to be dying. Sir John agrees with Barbara Allan and adds to her observation the fact that the cause of his sickness is his spurned love for her. Again, instead of expressing sympathy, Barbara Allan replies coldly. She state s that even though Sir John is spilling forth his love, it would have been better for her if he had never existed. The phrase “heart’s blood were a-spilling” can suggest several things: Sir John’s death, his broken heart, and his spoken words of love. In this fifth stanza, Barbara Allan explains her coldness to Sir John by referring to an incident during which her feelings were hurt. She asks whether he remembers that he “slighted” her, or treated with indifference and disdain, at the tavern. One can imagine that Sir John had been drinking too much, toasting too many other people, and ignoring his True love. Barbara Allan is unable to forget this incident or forgive him for it. Sir John does not deny the accusation that Barbara Allan makes. He turns away from her, presumably in sorrow for what he has done, and he passively accepts his death. His final words are a farewell to his friends and a request that they treat Barbara Allan with kindness. His gentle, sad acceptance of his fate and his blessing of Barbara Allan strike a sorrowful chord. His use of the foreign word “adieu” characterizes him as a well-bred gentleman. This portrayal of Sir John, along with his passivity, suggest that he deserves Barbara Allan’s pardon, not her continued condemnation. In this stanza, alliteration is used, with a “d” sound occurring in the words “death,” “dealing,” “adieu,” and “dear.” Somewhat reluctantly, Barbara Allan leaves Sir John. Because the word “slowly” is used four times in this stanza, a dramatic tension builds. The listener is made to wait for Barbara Allan’s response to Sir John, since her actions take time to develop. Finally, as she goes, she sighs and remarks that she can not stay since “death” has taken hold of Sir John; it has deprived him of “life.” This is the final occurrence of Barbara Allan’s cruelty, her lack of sympathy for Sir John. When Barbara Allan is only one or two miles away from Sir John, she hears his funeral bell ringing. In each strike of the bell, she hears a mournful note and feels regret for what she has done to cause the death of her true love. Barbara Allan calls out in sadness, asking that her mother prepare a funeral bed for her, because she will die of a broken heart just as she caused Sir John to die for her. Barbara Allan’s body is buried near Sir John, and a brier grows above her grave. The brier is a thorn bush, and it may be associated with Barbara Allan’s sharp treatment of Sir John. Also, like the crown of thorns worn by Jesus, it may be associated with martyrdom—in this case, Barbara Allan’s death for the cause of true love. Above Sir John’s grave, a red rose grows. Repetition of the word “red” emphasizes its symbolic significance; the red rose represents love. Here it stands for the true love that Sir John felt for Barbara Allan, a love strong enough to cause death. “Red” may also remind the reader of blood and pain. Sir John suffered emotional pain because of his love. The last stanza symbolically represents the eternity of true love. Though Sir John and Barbara Allan have died, their love continues to grow. The brier and the rose bush climb the church wall, suggesting that the love reaches above earthly constraints. There, the two plants join in a lover’s knot, a symbol of eternal unity. In life after death, it seems, Barbara Allan and Sir John have been reunited....