Denotative analysis of “Oh where ha’you been, Lord Randal, my son”.

In this poem there is an alternation of dialogues and narration. At the beginning of every stanza there is Lord Randal’s mother who asks him where has he been and who met he there. He answers that he has been at the forest and he met his true-love. After that his mother asks him what did she gave him, who got his leavens and what became of them. He says that she gave him eels fried in a pan and he gave his leavens to his hawks and hounds and they died. At this point his mother understands that he has been poisoned, so she asks him what will he leave to his family. He answers that he will leave twenty milk cows to his mother, his gold and his silver to his sister, his houses and his lands to his brother and hell and fire to his true-love. At the end of every stanza Lord Randal orders to his mother to make his bed soon because he is tired and wants to sleep. There is also an incremental repetition of the first two lines of every stanza, where you can understand that his mother loves Lord Randal.

Lord Randal is on the point of dying. He declares his will to his mother. After considering the denotative level of the poem write an argumentative text about what you learn of the middle ages thanks to the poem.

Thanks to this poem I’ve learned that in the middle ages  mother’s where very worried about her sons. They loved them and wanted to know everything about them. However the relationship wasn’t asymmetric, indeed  sons were very reserved and  gave orders to their mother. When they knew that they were dying they had to do their will. They used to left to their family cows, gold and silver, houses and lands. Usually the eldest brother used to acquire all the family’s estate and then he used to decide what give to whom.