Lady Alice is

Child ballad The Child Ballads are List of the Child Ballads, 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies ...

85. It may be a fragment of a longer

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

that has not been preserved.

Synopsis

Lady Alice sees a corpse being carried by and is told it is her lover. She asks the bearers to leave the corpse, saying that she herself will be dead by sundown the next day. The two are buried apart, but roses from his grave grow to reach her breast, only to be severed by a passing priest.

Variants

Lord Lovel Lord Lovel (Roud 49, Child 75) is an English-language folk ballad that exists in several variants. This ballad is originally from England, originating in the Late Middle Ages, with the oldest known versions being found in the regions of Gloucester ...

'', Child ballad 75, uses equivalent themes.Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 279, Dover Publications, New York 1965

Commentary

The entwined flowers appear also in '' Barbara Allen'', ''

Lord Thomas and Fair Annet "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (), also known as "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor", is an English folk ballad. Synopsis Lord Thomas (or Sweet Willie) is in love with Fair Annet, or Annie, or Elinor, but she has little property. He asks for advice. ...

'', and ''

Fair Margaret and Sweet William "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" (Child 74, Roudbr>253 is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, one or both of whom die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his 1765 '' Reliques'' and said that it was quoted as early a ...

''.

References

External links

''George Collins''
American variant

American variant Child Ballads {{Folk-song-stub