Barbara Allan (Medieval Period)

Ballads are characterized for having a song-melody, and they usually repeat words or phrases which in some cases could become a song. This is the case of Barbara Allen, which is a ballad from the Medieval Ages that currently has many versions that are sung. This poem for an unknown tells the story of two lovers that die for the love. The first stanza shows the time they met; however, the speaker says “the green leaves were a-fallin’,” which can be interpreted as decay—decay of true love—because people no longer believe in finding the person to share the rest of their life with. The poem continues telling us that Sir John has sent a man to bring Barbara to his death-bed. Nevertheless, on the third stanza the speaker mentions “O slowy , slowly rase she up” which means that she does not want to see him, which foreshadows that something not agreeable has happened between them. In fact, on the fifth stanza she tells him that once he has “slighted” her and this is the reason why she treats him so could when she says “Young man, I think you’re dying.”

Moreover, this poem deals with the idea of guilty because both of the lovers blame the other for the painful situation they are at. Indeed, on the sixth stanza as Sir John is almost dying, he says to his friends to be merciful with Barbara, even though she is guilty of his fate. Similarly happens to her when she says to her mother to built her grave; Barbara is blaming Sir John of her misfortune because now that her beloved one has died, she must died too. Nevertheless, the idea of guilty not only present in the sense of blaming someone else for oneself fate, but also in the sense of finding oneself guilty of the misfortune of other person. As example of this idea, on the eighth, the speaker says “every jow that the dead-bell ga’ed/It cried; ‘Woe to Barbara Allen’” which means that maybe she feels that she might have prevented the dead of Sir John. Every sound of the bells remember her the love that was between them.

Furthermore, it is important to point out that the love theme depicted on this ballad was not common during the Middle Ages since on those times literature procures to denounce social problems as it happens on the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.

The following are two versions of the poem used as songs.

Was in the merry month of May
When green buds all were swelling,
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For love of Barbara Allen.

He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwelling,
Said you must come, to my master dear
If your name be Barbara Allen.

So slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she drew nigh him,
And the only words to him did say
Young man I think you're dying.

He turned his face unto the wall
When we were in the tavern,
Good-bye, good-bye, to my friends all
Be good to Barbara Allen.

When he was dead and laid in grave
She heard the death bells melling
And every stroke to her did say
Hard hearted Barbara Allen.

Oh mother, oh mother go dig my grave
Make it both long and narrow,
Sweet William died of love for me
And I will die of sorrow.

And father, oh father, go dig my grave
Make it both long and narrow,
Sweet William died on yesterday
And I will die tomorrow.

Barbara Allen was buried in the old churchyard
Sweet William was buried beside her,
Out of sweet William's heart, there grew a rose
From Barbara's a green briar.

They grew and grew in the old churchyard
Till they could grow no higher
At the end they formed, a true lover's knot
And the rose grew round the briar.

Sung by Joan Baez



All in the merry month of May
When green buds all were swelling,
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For love of Barbara Allen.

He sent his servant to the town
A place where she did dwell in,
Said master dear, has sent me here
If your name be Barbara Allen.

Then slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she went to him,
And all she said, when there she came
Young man I think you're dying.

Don't you remember the other night
And death was in him welling,
You drank a toast to the ladies there
And slighted Barbara Allen.

He turned his face unto the wall
He turned his back upon her,
Adieu, adieu, to all my friends
And be kind, be kind, to Barbara Allen.

As she was wandering by the fields
She heard the death bells melling
And every note did seem to say
Hard hearted Barbara Allen.

The more it tolled the more she grieved
She bursted out a crying,
Oh pick me up and carry me home
I feel that I am dying.


They buried Willy in the old churchyard
And Barbara in the new one,
And from Willy's grave, there grew a rose
Out of Barbara Allen's a briar.

They grew and grew in the old churchyard
Till they could grow no higher
And there they tied in a true lover's knot
The red rose and the briar.

Sung by Garfunkel

By Pamela Regidor

Credits:

http://www.etni.org.il/music/barbaraallen.htm