The Broomfield Hill
A fragment of this ballad was printed in Herd's Collection, ("I'llwager, I'll wager," i. 226.) The present version is from the BorderMinstrelsy, (iii. 28,) and we have added another from Kinloch'sAncient Scottish Ballads. A somewhat longer copy is given inBuchan's Ballads, (ii. 291,) and a modernized English one, of novalue, (The West Country Wager,) in Ancient Poems, &c.,Percy Society, vol. xvii. p. 116.
Brume, brume on hil, is mentioned in the Complaynt ofScotland, and formed part of Captain Cox's well-known collection.
A Danish ballad exhibits the same theme, though differently treated:Soevnerunerne, Grundtvig, No. 81.
There was a knight and a lady bright,Had a true tryst at the broom;The ane ga'ed early in the morning,The other in the afternoon.
And aye she sat in her mother's bower door,And aye she made her mane,"O whether should I gang to the Broomfield hill,Or should I stay at hame?
"For if I gang to the Broomfield hill,My maidenhead is gone;And if I chance to stay at hame,My love will ca' me mansworn."--
Up then spake a witch woman,Aye from the room aboon;"O, ye may gang to Broomfield hill,And yet come maiden hame.
"For when ye come to the Broomfield hill,Ye'll find your love asleep,With a silver belt about his head,And a broom-cow at his feet.
"Take ye the blossom of the broom,The blossom it smells sweet,And strew it at your true love's head,And likewise at his feet.
"Take ye the rings off your fingers,Put them on his right hand,To let him know, when he doth awake,His love was at his command."--
She pu'd the broom flower on Hive-hill,And strew'd on's white hals bane,And that was to be wittering true,That maiden she had gane.
"O where were ye, my milk-white steed,That I hae coft sae dear,That wadna watch and waken me,When there was maiden here?"--
"I stamped wi' my foot, master,And gar'd my bridle ring;But nae kin' thing wald waken ye,Till she was past and gane."--
"And wae betide ye, my gay goss hawk,That I did love sae dear,That wadna watch and waken me,When there was maiden here."--
"I clapped wi' my wings, master,And aye my bells I rang,And aye cry'd, Waken, waken, master,Before the ladye gang."--
"But haste and haste, my gude white steed,To come the maiden till,Or a' the birds of gude green woodOf your flesh shall have their fill."--
"Ye needna burst your gude white steed,Wi' racing o'er the howm;Nae bird flies faster through the wood,Than she fled through the broom."
Words in this poem
- minstrelsy n.
- The arts and occupation of minstrels; the singing and playing of a minstrel.
- brume n.
- Mist; fog; vapors. [F. brume winter season, mist, L. bruma winter.]
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- maidenhead n.
- The state of being a maiden; maidenhood; virginity. [See Maidenhood.]
- aboon prep.
- and adv. Above.
- hals n.
- The neck or throat. [AS. heals; akin to D., G., & Goth. hals. See Collar.]
- bane v. t.
- To be the bane of; to ruin. Fuller.
- gane v. i.
- To yawn; to gape. [See Yawn.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- wald n.
- A forest; -- used as a termination of names. See Weald. [AS. weald. See Wold.]
- betide v. t.
- To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. [OE. bitiden; pref. bi-, be- + tiden, fr. AS. tidan, to happen, fr. tid time. See Tide.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Broomfield Hill is in the public domain. This text is taken from English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #37031; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Francis James Child, The Broomfield Hill, in English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (1857), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37031, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/child-ballads/the-broomfield-hill.html, id L08578.
Form and metre
The Broomfield Hill is 67 lines in 17 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -----AA i'll · border · kinloch's · in · no · — · —
- 9 -A-A broom · sweetA · head · feetA
- 10 -A-A fingers · handA · awake · commandA
- 11 -A-A hill · baneA · true · ganeA
- 12 -A-A steed · dearA · me · hereA
- 14 -A-A hawk · dearA · me · hereA
- 15 ABAB masterA · rangB · masterA · gangB
- 16 -A-A steed · tillA · wood · fillA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A fragment of this ballad was printed in Herd's Collection, ("I'll | 16 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··˘/˘· |
| wager, I'll wager," i. 226.) The present version is from the Border | 16 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘···/˘ |
| Minstrelsy, (iii. 28,) and we have added another from Kinloch's | 15 | /˘˘····/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Ancient Scottish Ballads. A somewhat longer copy is given in | 16 | /˘/˘/˘·///˘/˘·/· |
| Buchan's Ballads, (ii. 291,) and a modernized English one, of no | 15 | /˘/˘···/˘·/˘··· |
| value, (The West Country Wager,) in Ancient Poems, &c., | 14 | /˘··/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Percy Society, vol. xvii. p. 116. | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Brume, brume on hil, is mentioned in the Complaynt of | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Scotland, and formed part of Captain Cox's well-known collection. | 15 | /˘····/˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| A Danish ballad exhibits the same theme, though differently treated: | 16 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Soevnerunerne, Grundtvig, No. 81. | 7 | ······· |
| There was a knight and a lady bright, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Had a true tryst at the broom; | 7 | ······· |
| The ane ga'ed early in the morning, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| The other in the afternoon. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And aye she sat in her mother's bower door, | 10 | ······/˘/· |
| And aye she made her mane, | 6 | ······ |
| "O whether should I gang to the Broomfield hill, | 11 | ········/·· |
| Or should I stay at hame? | 6 | ······ |
| "For if I gang to the Broomfield hill, | 9 | ······/·· |
| My maidenhead is gone; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| And if I chance to stay at hame, | 8 | ········ |
| My love will ca' me mansworn."-- | 7 | ······· |
| Up then spake a witch woman, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Aye from the room aboon; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| "O, ye may gang to Broomfield hill, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And yet come maiden hame. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "For when ye come to the Broomfield hill, | 9 | ······/·· |
| Ye'll find your love asleep, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| With a silver belt about his head, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| And a broom-cow at his feet. | 7 | ······· |
| "Take ye the blossom of the broom, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The blossom it smells sweet, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And strew it at your true love's head, | 8 | ········ |
| And likewise at his feet. | 6 | ·/···· |
| "Take ye the rings off your fingers, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Put them on his right hand, | 6 | ······ |
| To let him know, when he doth awake, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| His love was at his command."-- | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| She pu'd the broom flower on Hive-hill, | 8 | ····/··· |
| And strew'd on's white hals bane, | 6 | ······ |
| And that was to be wittering true, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That maiden she had gane. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| "O where were ye, my milk-white steed, | 8 | ········ |
| That I hae coft sae dear, | 6 | ······ |
| That wadna watch and waken me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When there was maiden here?"-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "I stamped wi' my foot, master, | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| And gar'd my bridle ring; | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| But nae kin' thing wald waken ye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till she was past and gane."-- | 6 | ······ |
| "And wae betide ye, my gay goss hawk, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| That I did love sae dear, | 6 | ······ |
| That wadna watch and waken me, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When there was maiden here."-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "I clapped wi' my wings, master, | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| And aye my bells I rang, | 6 | ······ |
| And aye cry'd, Waken, waken, master, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Before the ladye gang."-- | 6 | ······ |
| "But haste and haste, my gude white steed, | 8 | ········ |
| To come the maiden till, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Or a' the birds of gude green wood | 8 | ········ |
| Of your flesh shall have their fill."-- | 7 | ······· |
| "Ye needna burst your gude white steed, | 8 | ········ |
| Wi' racing o'er the howm; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nae bird flies faster through the wood, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Than she fled through the broom." | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.