Interpreting Poetry Essay

B allads shed been a popular invention of troubadours since the origination of poetry. A ballad is a folksong typically with a tragic ending or a lovers getting married ending. This paper will break down the ballad of mediocre Barbara Allen in a stanza by stanza presentation, as well as present how the ballads grade pertains to modernity through folk singing. Ballads be an interpretation of a common emotion. In Barbara Allen the main characters are Barbara and Sir antic Graeme.Sometimes the ballad shifts in the mans name in other versions of this selfsame(preno(prenominal)inal) ballad the man is called Willie Grove, sweet Willie Graeme, Sweet William, Jemmye Grove (Diary of Pepys split 4). With such differences in names to expose the man in this ballad, and by use of the adjective sweet to describe him, it may be surmised that the sympathies of the ballad-singer as well as the audience, lie with the man in the story and not with Barbara Allen. It is no doubt that in this bal lad, the female is given the characteristic of being cruel.This is shown as her even sotually leaving Sir conjuring trick Graeme on his endingbed without go his love. She spurns him because he slighted her in a public tavern (some versions are different) and it is this slight which makes her maintain her cruelty. Sir behind Graeme dies, and Barbara Allen is so stricken with grief that she too dies (in some versions of the ballad, either lovers grave grows a rose and a irritant and they intertwine, and in another version Sir throne Graeme dances on Barbara Allens grave). The theme of the ballad is quite observably about set freeness.In essence, as with most ballads, Barbara Allen tries to moralize the story under the cruelest conditions. In analysis the creativity of the ballad through use of word choice, setting and narrative, the reader is bombarded with Old English (for the ballad was created in the 12th century when it was written into Pepys Diary of Ballads, but had bee n travelling through England, Scotland and Ireland via oral tradition hundreds of long time prior to it being written down). The first stanza places the listener or reader in a timeframe (Martinmas time, or November 11th (Wollstadt 315)).In the setting of the gibe the singer goes on to describe that the green leaves were a dropping (Pepys paragraph 1). Although the first stanza tells of Johns love for Barbara, there is an immediate swift change of scene from love to death amidst the 1st and 2nd stanza (Oliver 10-11). Barbara is bid to come to the my master dear (Pepys paragraph 1). The symbolism of the green leaves go and of Johns body being so close to death represents a great use of metaphor by the writer. What should also be noted is that typically when a leaf falls, it is not in fact green, but of various colours including red, yellow, orange.This is because the chlorophyll has been sucked back into the tree diagram for the winter (its handle the tree harvesting health for t he upcoming colder months). Thus, for the green leaves to be falling would suggest that the tree has suffered some plight instead of them falling simply because of the season. This allusion of the ballad mirrors Johns broken magnetic core (Oliver 11-12). He is a young man, in the prime of his days, but he dies of a broken heart. What is of further interest is that a tree will keep the green in its leaves, even when the tree is anxious(p) of what is called heart rot.Thus, the reader is prepared for the upcoming scene of sorrow for both(prenominal) John and Barbara. The 3rd stanza reveals a somewhat cold Barbara Allen. She does go to Johns side, on his bequest, and when she arrives, all the ballad says, she says, Young man, I think youre end (Pepys paragraph 1). The motions with which she uses to go to Johns deathbed are very revealing to the reader. The stanza relays that she slowly (hooly) got up upon being imploreed to Johns side. We essential assume she knew he was dying, or that she was antipathetical to see him, because of the way she feels he slighted her.However, upon the true revelation of Johns state of death, all she can say is Young man, I think youre dying (Pepys paragraph 1). It is in the 4th stanza that the reader is revealed to Johns state Hes dying of a broken heart. This is an actual medical concern known as of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken heart syndrome. It may safely assumed that this is indeed what is the death of Sir John Graeme, for, upon Barbara Allen leaving him, without returning his love, the death chime rings. In turn then, Barbara Allen may also have died from takotsubo cardiomyopathy.Sir Johns statement further supports this judgment as in the 4th stanza he states, Im sick/And tis a for Barbara Allan (Pepys paragraph 1). If Johns heart truly is breaking, it does so in the 5th stanza as Barbara states that she doesnt love him (or hides it because shes angry with him) because of the injustice she feels she suffered at the tavern when John slighted her. The 4th and the 5th stanzas are near of dialogue and not much narrative. This is do in order to get the back story of these both people and to know the emotional reasoning for Barbaras live up tos.The narrative of the 6th stanza reveals more the dialogue between the couple as revealed in their actions. John turns his face to the way when Barbara tells of why she doesnt love him. This action may be interpreted as being shame on Johns sort for what he did while drinking at a tavern. The entire 6th stanza in fact reads like a domestic dispute reconciliation (or what may be a reconciliation). What is interesting to note is that John doesnt ask for clearness from Barbara for what he may or may not have done while he may or may not have been drunk.Thus, in turn, Barbara doesnt forgive him. Thus, the theme of forgiveness comes back into play meaning, if either one had forgiven the other, perhaps their hearts would not have broken. However, both char acters have too much pride to ask for forgiveness and thus they inevitably bechance a tragic ending. It is interesting to not however that while John is dying his last request is for people to be kind to Barbara Allen, which signifies his fault as well as her stubbornness. (i. e.because she wouldnt grant a dying man his last wish). The repetition in the 7th stanza of Barbara moving slowly leaving John was seen early in the ballad when she slowly came to see him. Thus, once she was slow to see him and now she is reluctant to leave him. It is in the 7th stanza that the reader begins to see the human side of Barbara Allen appear. It is with this movement and her statement in the 9th stanza of dying tomorrow, that the reader may begin to sympathize with the woman.Her cruelty can only be save through her dying as well, and it is in her death that the reader realizes that she did love John, but could not forgive a man who did not ask for forgiveness. Works Cited Diary of Samuel Pepys. B arbara Allen. (2009). Online. 29 March 2009. http//www. pepysdiary. com/p/9570. php Oliver, Mary. song Handbook. (1994). Harvest Books. New York. Wollstadt, Lynn. Controlling Women Reading Gender in the Ballads Scottish Women Sang Western Folklore, vol. 61, no. ? (Autumn 2002). Pp. 295-317.