“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.”

DENOTATIVE LEVEL:

Lord Randal mother’s starts to ask his son lots of questions about where he has been and everything that has happened, when the man was feeling sick and was ordering her to make his bed when he comes home from the greenwood. Lord Randal, in a more cold way than his mother’s, answers that he has been in the greenwood and that he has met a woman that he will describe as his “true-love”. However this woman poisoned the Lord feeding him fried eels in a pan that killed his hawks and hounds and that is why he is feeling not only sick at the heart but also poisoned. At that time his mother asks him what he will leave to her, his sister, his brother and his true-love when he will die.

WHAT I LEARN OF THE MIDDLE AGES THANKS TO THE POEM:

Lords were the male figure that is used to be a very central one: males were seen as strong people who had to haunt for survival, an important part of society, who had innumerable properties such as lands, metals and beef, which, at the time, were considered the most vital matters to have. They were seen as central figures of the society and that is the reason whyeveryone, especially female figures, such as Lord Randal’s mother, looked up very much to them.When someone is on the point of dying, he declares inside of his will which good he will give to who: inthis case, the most important matters to leave to his closest people are his lands, houses, beef andmetals. This was more important if you were the first-born children in the family.