Oh Where Ha' You Been, Lord Randal, My Son

"O where ha you been, Lord Randal, my son?
And where ha you been, my handsome young man?"
"I ha been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down."

"An wha met ye there, Lord Randal, my son?
And wha met ye there, my handsome young man?"
"O I met wi my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down."

"And what did she give you, Lord Randal, My son?
And wha did she give you, my handsome young man?"
"Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fein wad lie down."

"And what gat your leavins, Lord Randal my son?
And wha gat your leavins, my handsome young man?"
"My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fein wad lie down."

"And what becam of them, Lord Randal, my son?
And what becam of them, my handsome young man?
"They stretched their legs out and died; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi huntin, and fain wad lie down."

"O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randal, my son!
I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!"
"O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your mother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?"
"Four and twenty milk kye; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your sister, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?"
"My gold and my silver; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, an I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your brother, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?"
"My houses and my lands; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

"What d'ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randal, my son?
What d'ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man?"
"I leave her hell and fire; mother mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down."

By reading the title, one may expect the poem to narrate a mother’s worried about her son, Lord Randal. Moreover one can understand that the poem is set in the Middle Ages because there is the noun “Lord”.

The layout shows that the composition is a ballad consisting of forty lines arranged into ten quatrains. Being a ballad, the poem is anonymous.

Lord Randal has an immediate meaning which is not difficult to grasp, apart from the difficulty of its language. An intelligent reader comes to know that Lord Randal is a noble man because he goes hunting with his hounds and possesses cattle, a house, gold and silver.  Lord Randal comes home feeling ill and his mothers asks him where he has been and what happened to him. He replies that he has been hunting in the woods and that he has met his “true love” who has prepared him some lunch. His mother understands that she has poisend him and asks him what he is going to leave to his sister, to his brother, to her and to his true love.

Taking into consideration the structure, the reader immediately notices that the ballad consists of two parts. The first five stanzas begin with a question word “where”,  “who” “what” and end with the same answer. The sixth stanza interrupts the sequence as it does not present a question, but a statement “O, I fear ye are poisened, Lord Randal my son”. This change in syntax, from interogative to affirmative adds to the meaning of the poem because it states a terrible truth: young Lord Randal is going to die. The second part of the ballad displays again the use of incremental repetion, that is the repetion of the same line with a slight change in each stanza, which allows the development of the plot in quick falshes: “What d'ye leave to your mother/ sister / brother / true love” which finds its correspondent in Lord Randal's answers. However, the reader will notice that while the mother’s question have the same structure, Lord Randal's answers show a change in the last line. Instead of starting his replies by naming his posessions “Four and twenty milk keys”, “my gold and silver”, “my house” respectively to his mother, his sister and his brother, Lord Randal replies with a subject, a verb and an object “I leave her hell and fire” to express all his hate and desperation.

The musical quality of the ballad is strengthend by the frequent use of alliterations, for example the /m/ sound in  “mother make my bed soon” or of the /w/ sound in “weary wi' hunting” , which are repeated througout the poem.

Unlike other ballads, this composition does not contain any narrative parts but it consist of dialogue only. There are two speaking characters (mother and son) and a third one (his false “true love”) who is only mentioned. A gloomy and mysterious atmosphere pervades the poem: Lord Rand meets his “true love” in the “woods”, a dark place where one can lose his way. The beloved woman is not described, she is as mysterious and dangerous as the woods. As a matter of fact, she poisons him with “eels fried in a pan”. The ballad deals with the relationship between love and death and human attraction to dangerous experiences.