“lord randall” and “get up & bar the door”

“Lord Randall”and

“Get Up & Bar the Door”Ballads

Geschke/English III "Lord Randall" & "Get Up &

Bar the Door"

Ballads

• A song or songlike poem that tells a story in a regular pattern of rhythm and rhyme and uses simple, direct language.


Bar the Door"

Characteristics

• Sensational or tragic subject matter–Domestic tragedy–False love–True love–The absurdity of husband-wife

relationships–The supernatural

• Omitted details• Supernatural events


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Characteristics

• Refrain• A repeated word, line or group of lines

• Incremental Repetition• A phrase or sentence is repeated with a new

element added each time until the climax is reached in order to build up suspense.

• Question-and answer format• The facts of the story are gradually

presented in this format in order to build suspense.


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“Lord Randall”

• Structure– Question and answer format

between Lord Randall’s mother and Lord Randall


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Question/Answer #1

• Where have you been?• I have been in the woods hunting.


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Question/Answer #2

• Where did you eat your dinner?• I ate with my true love.


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Question/Answer #3

• What did you eat for dinner?• I ate eels boiled in broth.


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Question/Answer #4

• What happened to your bloodhounds?

• They swelled up and died.


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Final Stanza

• Functions as conclusion• His mother concludes he has been

poisoned.• Lord Randall agrees


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Symbolism: The Bed

• “…mother, make my bed soon,/ For I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.”• These lines end the first three stanzas

• “…mother, make my bed soon,/ For I’m sick at the heart, and I fain wald lie down.”• Ends the fourth stanza

• The bed symbolizes his death bed• He has been poisoned by his true love


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Symbolism: The Eels

• Most likely, this is what has been poisoned

• Eels are the most snakelike of fish• Snakes symbolize evil


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Variations

• “Lord Randall” is supposed to have 103 known variations.

• Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”


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“Get Up and Bar the Door”

– Setting•Around Martinmas time (the feast of

Saint Martin of Tours)–November 11–Usually celebrated with a big feast–Much like our modern holidays

»A lot of work needs to be done around the house


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Conflict

• The door needs to be barred• The husband wants the wife to do it• The wife wants the husband to do it


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Conflict: Conclusion

• “They made a paction tween them twa, They made it firm and sure,That the first word whaeer should speak, Should rise and bar the door.”

• The first person to speak has to go and lock the door


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Characterization

• Stubborn• Silly• Theme

– Battle of the sexes


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Plot

• Two men come into the house and eat all the food

• Neither the husband nor the wife say anything because they do not want to lose the wager

• The two intruders then decide to cut off the man’s beard and kiss the wife

• The man finally responds:• “Will ye kiss my wife before my een

And scad me wi pudding-bree?”Geschke/English III "Lord Randall" & "Get Up &

Bar the Door"

Plot

• The woman responds after the man:• “Goodman, you’ve spoken the

foremost word, Get up and bar the door.”

• Humorous ending• Her priority is winning the bet.


Bar the Door"

“lord randall” and “get up & bar the door”

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