Reading Notes: Robin Hood part B

Bibliography: Robin Hood: Francis James Child, Source

Robin Hood and Prince John
Disney Characters: Source

I continue my Robin Hood reading today with part two, and one thing I noticed while reading yesterday’s section is that it is written in verse. The verse, although confusing to read, is beautiful and creates quite wonderful pictures and imagery. Today I’m going to post a few of my favorite stanzas and talk about how they tell Robin Hood’s story in a way normal language can’t.

“Then Robin set his back against a tree,

And his foot against a thorn,

And from underneath his shepherd’s coat

He pulld out a bugle-horn.”

• I liked this section because you could easily picture the scene being described. Robin Hood is leaning against a tree, pulling out a bugle to start playing a little ditty. A lot of these verses are dialogue between Robin Hood and his antagonists, but I like the simplicity of this one.

“So to conclude my merry new song,

All you that delight it to sing,

’Tis of Robin Hood, that archer good,

And how Little John went a begging.”

• This is the closing line in one of these poems, and I love how it perfectly summarizes the events that took place. It’s a “delight” to sing, and it ends the action of Robin hood and Little John.

“IN summer time, when leaves grow green,

When they doe grow both green and long,

Of a bould outlaw, calld Robin Hood,

It is of him I sing this song.”

• This is the opening line in a poem, and I just like the way it starts off the story. We are immediately told the setting, and can start imagining the green trees in summertime and Robin Hood wandering around.

“Perplexed and vexed, and troubled in mind,

Shee drest her self like a page,

And ranged the wood to find Robin Hood,

The bravest of men in that age”

• We are finally introduced to Maid Marian here, which I was excited about. Not only is she described as being beautiful in earlier stanzas, in this particular one she disguises herself as a page, showing she’s a woman of action. The rhyme of “perplexed and vexed” is fun to read, and also a great motivation for her to find her true love, Robin Hood.