Page 115 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

100 Best Loved Poems

Study Guide
Student Copy

“Lord Randal”
by Anonymous, page 1

Vocabulary
hae – have
weary – tired
fain – happily
wald – would
gat – ate
gat ye – you eat
bloodhounds – dogs

1. How did we come to have ballads as part of our literary history?

2. Who is the speaker of the poem?

3. What key events of Lord Randal’s life are recalled in each stanza of the poem?

4. This ballad repeats several phrases in each stanza, including “…mother make my bed
soon,/For I am weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.” By repeating these lines, as
well as other phrases, what literary device is being used?

5. What is Lord Randal hunting throughout the poem?

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