Scarborough Fair is such a popular song, but in effect it is a poem that is written in the form of a ballad. A ballad is a traditional song that is passed on by word of mouth rather than being written down. This accounts much for the repetition for it is easier to remember something which has a lot of repetition and an easy rhyme scheme.
In the middle ages, people didn’t usually take credit for songs or other works of art they made, so the writer of Scarborough Fair is unknown. The song was sung by bards (or shapers, as they were known in medieval England) who went from town to town, and as they heard the song and took it with them to another town, the lyrics and arrangements changed. This is why today there are many versions of Scarborough Fair, and there are dozens of ways in which the words have been written down.
The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she completes these tasks he will take her back. It is obvious that the man does not want her as his true love. He is rejecting her. Scarborough Fair is thus a poem of rejection.
This English folk song dates back to late medieval times, when the seaside resort of Scarborough was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England. Scarborough Fair was a huge forty-five day trading event, starting on August fifteen, which was exceptionally long for a fair in those days. People from all over England, and even some from Europe came to Scarborough to do their business. The fair attracted jesters and jugglers. Farmers sold their goods there and it they were looking to hire workers, they would find them at the fair. Each worker would wear or carry a symbol of his trade. The shepherd, for example, would wear his traditional smock and carry a crook.
The poem consists of 28 lines of cross rhyming: abab cdcd efef ghgh ijij klkl mnmn.
Lines 1-4
The young man wants to know if the person he is addressing is on his way to Scarborough to the annual fair that is held there. He wants the person to take a message to a young woman he had been courting in the past. The message consists of several tasks, which the young woman must do in order for him to forgive her and take her back. Unfortunately, the tasks are impossible. The message is thus clear: he will never forgive her and take her back.
Lines 5-8
The first task: She must make him a cambric shirt without using a needle or thread.
Lines 9-12
The second task: She must wash it in a well without water.
Lines 13-16
The third task: She must plough an acre of land for him between the beach and the sea.
Lines 17-20
The fourth task:She must plough the acre of land with a ram’s horn. She must plant the entire acre using only one peppercorn seed.
Lines 21-24
The fifth task: She must reap the harvest with a sickle made of leather. After she has harvested the crop, she must tie it together with the feather of a small bird, the Tom-Tit.
Lines 21-24
The final task:She must send the bundled harvest in a sock to him, on a butterfly’s back.
Some questions to ponder:
How does the reader know that the man is rejecting the girl as his lover?
He is giving the girl impossible tasks to do.
Which characteristics identify the poem as a ballad?
It is traditional song that has been passed on from one generation to the next by word of mouth. It has a lot of repetition, which makes it easy to remember. The rhythm has four beats to a line.
What do the herbs ‘parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme’ symbolize?
Parsley: loyalty; Sage: wisdom; Rosemary: marriage; Thyme: sacrifice.
Give examples of imagery used in the poem.
‘sewing without needle or thread’; ‘ram’s horn for a plough’; ‘leather sickle’; tying the crop with a single feather’; ‘crop on a butterfly’s back’.
What examples are there of alliteration in the poem?
Between the sea and the salt sea strand’; ‘And tie it all up with a Tom-Tit’s feather
Explain the title.
The town’s name is Scarborough and every year they have a huge fair which lasts forty-five days.
Describe the mood of the poem.
It is breezy and light with an air of sadness (pathos).
