Song Meaning

This ballad presents a curious scenario: three bold kinsmen fall for the narrator, each offering a distinct declaration of love. The first uses the imagery of a "greenwood tree," a symbol of nature and perhaps enduring life, accompanying his words with a kiss. The second, clad in brown and described as "glick as a grick in mud," likens his love to "good red Earth," emphasizing a grounded, fertile passion, and promises "laughter gay" and dancing. The third, in sober gray, offers his love as a "running stream" and a "crystal pool," suggesting depth, clarity, and perhaps a more profound, cooling affection. Each kinsman's approach is marked by physical intimacy, culminating in proposals of marriage. The central tension arises from the narrator's eventual heartbreak, despite being the object of such fervent attention. The lyrics reveal a mortal maid who captures the kinsmen's collective attention, leading them to speak "as one" in their desire to claim her. This external event seems to overshadow the narrator's own experience, leaving her "woeful" and without a lover. The narrative shifts from her being the object of desire to an observer of another's conquest. The most striking element is the narrator's final lament, "No lover have I now / Since mortal hand I must part." This suggests a supernatural or non-human perspective, where the narrator is unable to connect with the mortal world or its affections. The kinsmen's initial love for her appears to be a prelude or perhaps a distraction from the true focus of the ballad: the unattainable mortal maid and the narrator's subsequent isolation. The contrast between the kinsmen's bold advances and the narrator's ultimate solitude is stark and poignant. These lyrics resonate because they tap into a deep-seated fear of being overlooked or replaced, even when one is seemingly desired. The ballad crafts a sense of longing and loss through its evocative natural imagery and the abrupt shift in focus. The narrator's final words convey a profound sense of separation, highlighting the pain of unrequited connection and the isolation that follows when one is fundamentally different from those one desires.