Introducing the Poem

Literary Focus: Ballad

Reading Focus: Understanding Purpose

Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

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Lord Randall

Lord RandallIntroducing the Poem

What happens when true love goes wrong?

Click on the title to start the video.

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

Love is whatever you can still betray. . . . Betrayal can only happen if you love.

John le Carré

Sensationalism in the Middle Ages

These aren’t the latest tabloid headlines. They’re the plots of medieval ballads. In the Middle Ages, just as today, some forms of popular entertainment tended toward the sensational.

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

Slighted Woman Spurns Lover’s

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Three Dead Sons Visit Mother for Dinner

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Poetry of the People

Ballads were the poetry of the people, just as popular music is today. Ballads had subjects such as

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

• domestic tragedy• false love• the supernatural

What modern popular songs can you think of that have these same subjects?

Song and Dance

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

The word ballad is derived from an Old French word meaning “dancing song.”

The structure and meter of the English ballads make it clear that they were intended to be sung to music.

Listen to part of the ballad.

Poetry of the People

The ballads of the Middle Ages

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

• were passed down orally from singer to singer

• had strong beats and repetition

• were a gift of story passed from generation to generation

Lord Randall Introducing the Poem

In this ballad, Lord Randall has just returned from the forest. He tells his mother that all he wants to do is lie down.

• Is Lord Randall simply tired from hunting?

• What happened in the forest? Was there some kind of foul play, as his mother suspects?

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Ballads are songs or songlike poems that tell stories in simple, rhythmic language.

Lord Randall Literary Focus: Ballad

Ballads usually include• sensational or tragic

subject matter• omitted details

• supernatural events

• a refrain—a repeated word, line, or group of lines

Ballad singers often used certain conventions:

Lord Randall Literary Focus: Ballad

• incremental repetition—repeating a phrase or sentence, adding a new element each time, to build suspense

“O where hae ye been, Lord Randall, my son?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“Where gat ye your dinner, Lord Randall, my son?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“What gat ye to your dinner, Lord Randall, my son?”

Ballad singers often used certain conventions:

Lord Randall Literary Focus: Ballad

• question-and-answer format—a series of questions whose answers reveal facts of the story little by little; used to build suspense

“O where hae ye been, Lord Randall, my son? O where hae ye been, my handsome young man?”“I hae been to the wild wood; mother, make my bed

soon, For I’m weary wi’ hunting and fain wald lie down.”

Ballad singers often used certain conventions:

Lord Randall Literary Focus: Ballad

• conventional phrases—word groups understood by listeners to have a meaning beyond the literal one

• a strong, simple beat

• relatively uncomplicated verse forms

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Lord RandallReading Focus: Understanding Purpose

Although the author of “Lord Randall” is unknown, we can determine the author’s purpose from details in the text, such as

• dialogue• images• repetition

In “Lord Randall,” the mother repeats several phrases in each stanza. That repetition indicates that she loves her boy and is upset by his behavior.

We can guess that the ballad’s purpose is to share a tragic event with listeners.

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Lord RandallReading Focus: Understanding Purpose

Into Action: As you read, note details that help you determine the purposes of the ballads. Use a chart like the one below to record your findings.

Lord Randall Get Up and Bar Edward, Edward

the DoorDetails:

Purpose:

mother’s pleading tone

to move to sadness

Lord Randall Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

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Find It in Your Reading

Repetition is an essential feature of ballads.

Incremental repetition—a phrase or sentence that is

repeated with a new element each time—helps advance

the story until the climax is reached.

As you read, pay special attention to the use of

repetition.

Lord Randall Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

As you read, think about what a music video version of a ballad might look like.

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