Skip to content
Linespedia

Barbara Allen's Cruelty

Topics: classic

All in the merry month of May,     When green buds they were swelling,     Young Jemmy Grove on his death-bed lay     For love o' Barbara Allen.     He sent his man unto her then,     To the town where she was dwelling:     "O haste and come to my master dear,     If your name be Barbara Allen."     Slowly, slowly rase she up,     And she cam' where he was lying;     And when she drew the curtain by,     Says, "Young man, I think you're dying."     "O it's I am sick, and very, very sick,     And it's a' for Barbara Allen."     "O the better for me ye'se never be,     Tho' your heart's blude were a-spilling!     "O dinna ye min', young man," she says,     "When the red wine ye were filling,     That ye made the healths gae round and round     And ye slighted Barbara Allen?"     He turn'd his face unto the wa',     And death was wi' him dealing:     "Adieu, adieu, my dear friends a';     Be kind to Barbara Allen."     As she was walking o'er the fields,     She heard the dead-bell knelling;     And every jow the dead-bell gave,     It cried, "Woe to Barbara Allen!"     "O mother, mother, mak' my bed,     To lay me down in sorrow.     My love has died for me to-day,     I'll die for him to-morrow."

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"All in the merry month of May,..."

This evocative piece by George Wharton Edwards, titled "Barbara Allen's Cruelty", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"SHOWING THE CRUELTY OF A JEW'S DAUGHTER     Four and twenty bonny boys     Were playing at the ba',     And up it stands him sweet Sir Hugh,"

"I wad I were where Helen lies;     Night and day on me she cries;     O that I were where Helen lies,     On fair Kirkconnell lea!     Curst"

"I read that once in Affrica     A princely wight did raine,     Who had to name Cophetua,     As poets they did faine.     From natures lawes"

"When Robin Hood and Little John     Down a down, a down, a down,     Went o'er yon bank of broom,     Said Robin Hood to Little John,     "We"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"SHOWING THE CRUELTY OF A JEW'S DAUGHTER     Four..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.