Lord Randal - analysis from the 6th stanza

The sixth quatrain interrupts the repetitive succession of questions made my Lord Randal’s mother. Indeed, it opens with the exclamation “Oh, I fear you are poisoned”. Now that she knows what had happened to his son in the wood, she clearly understands the reason why his son is so tired and the reader can finally see through the atmosphere of suffering to its real cause: Lord Randal has been poisoned by a supernatural creature, and he’s going to die. He doesn’t hide it any more and admits he is poisoned and is sick at the heart. After this revelation, the request “mak my bed soon” can be seen from a different perspective: Lord Randal’s tiredness is given by his approaching death and the bed he’s asking for is going to become his grave. The structure of the following quatrains distinguish themselves from the previous ones thanks to the last line: indeed it changes from “For I’m wearied wi’ hunting” to “For I’m sick at the heart”.

From the seventh quatrain the mother starts again questioning her son. But this time the questions are based, not on the son’s past, but on the future of the family. She is no more worried about her son because he is going to die and nothing can save him. Therefore she tries to solve all the problems that could rise after her son’s death. She is worried about her and her daughter’s future: they are women and in the Middle Ages their lives depended from the male figures of their family (Lord Randal in the case). She wants to make her sure they will be able to survive. The son answers he will leave 24 milk cows to his mother and his gold and silver to his sister, that is enough to survive and buy food.

After being reassured about her and her daughter’s future, she asks about what he is going to leave to his brother. Lord Randal answers he will leave him his house and his land, that is all his feudal power and his properties: he is going to become the new main male figure of the family on which the two women will depend on.

At last, she asks him what he is going to leave to his “true-love”, who has met that day. Lord Randal answers with anger he will leave her “hell and fire”. It seems like as the spell he was under the effect of had at last lost some of its power, so that Lord Randal could finally understand who was the cause of his impending death. In the last moment of clarity he damns the creature that has led him to death.