The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #19292   Message #3563772
Posted By: GUEST,leeneia
02-Oct-13 - 08:27 PM
Thread Name: Flandyke Shore - meaning
Subject: RE: Flandyke Shore - meaning
I don't think so. In the first verse, he creeps up to her window -they are lovers meeting in secret.

In the second, he hasn't left for Flanders yet. He's allowed to creep to her bedroom door, because she's dying. He sees her soul depart in the form of a light.

When he meets the father later, the father claims it's his fault she's dead. The father's looking for someone to blame -- a common human failing.

Life expectancy was much shorter in the days of the old ballads because people kept dying of love. We don't seem to do that much nowadays.