LADY DIAMOND
Lady Diamond is an anonymous medieval ballad; probably it comes from Scotland, since it contains Scottish dialectal expressions. The title introduces the protagonist and makes the reader immediately understand that the situation takes place in an aristocratic environment. Indeed, the song is about a princess who fell in love with one of her servants. Her father and king disapproved this love and ordered his men to kill that boy. Lady Diamond could not bear the sorrow and died of desperation.
The ballad is made up of thirteen quatrains. Every quatrain has a different function. The first stanza introduces the story and the main characters. The opening recalls that of a fairy tale and does not set the events in a determinate time or space. From the words "only daughter dear", the reader can understand the king is very fond of her and would do everything for her. The repetition of the word "king" in line 2 and 3 creates a musical effect, while the word order in the fourth line focuses the attention of the reader on the importance of the name "Lady Diamond".
The second stanza tells the reader about the initiatory fact of the story, that is Lady Diamond's love for the "kitchen boy". The incremental repetition in line 7 underpins the intensity and the duration of that love. There is also a temporal reference drawn from farming: "till the grass overgrew the corn" stands for autumn.
The third stanza deals with the problem of Lady Diamond: she is pregnant and she cannot hide it any more. To express this, the narrator employs a long periphrasis with concrete and iconic expressions.
The fourth stanza describes the king's worry for her daughter; he is depicted as a "wandering ghost". The atmosphere of eagerness is given also by the temporal reference "on a winter's night".
The fifth stanza contains the first dialog exchange between the characters. The king asks Lady Diamond in Scottish dialect what was troubling her. Here rhythm is slowed down and the narrator focuses on the actions of the single characters. The daughter answers in the next stanza, confessing the crime and praying her father not to reproach her and not to stop their relation.
In the seventh stanza the king orders his men to kill the boy. The solemnity of the order is given by the incremental repetition (go call to me ... go fetch to me...). However, the stanza closes with a sharp line, as if the writer wants to communicate the secrecy of the action.
The eighth stanza narrates the murder of the kitchen boy; the repetition of "no" in the first two lines highlights the impressive quickness of the realization of the king's order. Further details are given in the next stanzas; his heart is cut out of the corpse and given to the lady. There is a deviation of the normal word order in the 36th line; "behold" is put at the end to create assonance with "bowl".
The tenth stanza narrates Lady Diamond's crying; her desperation is further increased by the repetition of the expression "come to me". In the following stanza, the effects of the desperation are described: she wept so long, that she had washed his hearth by her tears. In the end, she dies.
The last two stanzas express the king's desperation and nostalgia. However, he attributes most of the faults to his men, turning to them with a question which recalls the one of line 25. The paradox of Lady Diamond's death is further reinforced with the anaphora (for... for...) in the last two lines.
The poem often presents concrete, simple and matter-of-fact language, with dialectal expressions and popular references. Indeed, these features let also less cultured people understand the story. Sound devices are greatly used, to help storytellers memorize the text. There is a regular rhyme scheme (ABCB ... DEFE ...).

THE HOUSE CARPENTER
The house carpenter is an anonymous medieval ballad. It narrates the story of a wife of a house carpenter. One day, an unknown seaman came to her and told her he loved her. He invited her to go away with him, promising her wealth and wonders. First she was reluctant, but then she decided to go: she kissed her baby and left. Only after two weeks, she regretted having done this. A few days later their ship sank and they both died. The woman hoped to reach Heaven, but he went to Hell instead.
The ballad is made up of fourteen quatrains in a mixture of dialog and narration, with an irregular rhyme scheme.
In the first stanza the seaman turns to the carpenter's wife presents himself in a rhythmic and musical way. There is the repetition of "well met" and "salt sea", the latter also forming an alliteration. The seaman proceeds stating he has renounced even to the king's daughter to go with her and concludes the second stanza with the same line of the previous one, reasserting his love.
In the third stanza the carpenter's wife answers to the seaman ironically, saying she is already married. In the next stanza, the seaman asks her again to give up the house carpenter and to go with him and promises her he would take her to fantastic and rich lands. The sailor replies in a musical and rhythmic way again; the alliteration "grass grows green" underlines the exceptionality of those places.
In the fifth stanza the house carpenter's wife asks the seaman what will be the advantages for her if she goes with him. From this the reader can understand she is already interested in him and hopes to improve her situation. The seaman promises her she would be at the command of many ships and sailors. He resorts to repetition (six ships, six ships) and similar line structures (six ships - all out on the sea / one hundred and ten - all brave sailor men).
The reader can understand the seaman speaks in a very musical and captivating way in respect of the woman, and employs repetition, alliteration and incremental repetition.
The seventh stanza depicts the woman kissing her baby; therefore, it implies she has decided to go away. The word order in the 26th line underpins the word "kisses".
In the eighth stanza the narrator underlines how quickly she has terribly regretted her decision. The sailor asks her in and ironic way why she is sad, and she answers, drawing on his words, she is sad because she misses her baby.
In the tenth stanza the narrator draws on the formulaic expression of the eighth stanza and tells the reader that after few time the ship sank. The word "never" is repeated at every start of the last line of the 8th, 9th and 10th stanzas and reinforces the idea of regretting.
In the twelfth stanza the seaman describes the sinking of their ship; the incremental repetition (one time..., two times..., three times...) gives the idea of a strong storm.
In the last two stanzas the two lovers are represented going to the beyond; the woman asks him what hills belong to Heaven or to Hell. Heaven's hills are depicted as fair and high, since they host virtuous souls, while Hell's ones are dark and low, like the sinners' souls. In the last line, the seaman specifies they would go to Hell, as they committed sin. The two stanzas are perfectly similar.
The ballad aims at teaching the listeners the right actions to do to obtain salvation and provides an example of bad behaviour. The seaman represents the tempter devil: therefore, the events can be compared to the biblical episode of Eve and the snake. As the snake tempted Eve to eat the apple and brought her to commit sin, the sailor induced the woman to betray her husband and brought her to Hell. Evidences of the similarity with the snake can be found in the sailor's captivating and tempting way of speaking.