Lord Randall
Feature Menu
Introducing the Poem
Literary Focus: Ballad
Reading Focus: Understanding
Purpose
Writing Focus: Think as a
Reader/Writer
TechFocus
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
What happens when true love goes wrong?
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
Click on the title to start the video.
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
Love is whatever you can still betray. . . .
Betrayal can only happen if you love.
John le Carré
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
Sensationalism in the Middle Ages
Three Dead Sons Visit
Mother for Dinner
- -------- ----------- ---- ---- --- -- --- ---- --- ------ ----- --
- -------- ----------- ---- ---- --- -- --- ---- --- ------ ----- --
Slighted Woman
Spurns Lover’s
Deathbed Request
--- -- ----- ----- ---- --- -------- ------
-- ------- ------------ ---- ----- --- ------
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
Poetry of the People
Ballads were the poetry of
the people, just as popular
music is today. Ballads had
subjects such as
• domestic tragedy
• false love
• the supernatural
What modern popular songs can you think of
that have these same subjects?
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
Song and Dance
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.
Lord Randall
Introducing the Poem
Poetry of the People
The ballads of the Middle Ages
• 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?
[End of Section]
Lord Randall
Literary Focus: Ballad
Ballads are songs or songlike poems that tell
stories in simple, rhythmic language.
Ballads usually include
• sensational or tragic
subject matter
• omitted details
• supernatural events
• a refrain—a repeated
word, line, or group of
lines
Lord Randall
Literary Focus: Ballad
Ballad singers often used certain conventions:
• 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?”
Lord Randall
Literary Focus: Ballad
Ballad singers often used certain conventions:
• 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.”
Lord Randall
Literary Focus: Ballad
Ballad singers often used certain conventions:
• conventional phrases—
word groups understood
by listeners to have a
meaning beyond the
literal one
• a strong, simple beat
• relatively uncomplicated
verse forms
[End of Section]
Lord Randall
Reading 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.
Lord Randall
Reading 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
the Door
Details:
mother’s
pleading tone
Purpose:
to move to
sadness
Edward, Edward
[End of Section]
Lord Randall
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
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.
[End of Section]
Lord Randall
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
TechFocus
As you read, think about what a music video version
of a ballad might look like.
[End of Section]
The End