The Douglas Tragedy
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Hello everyone, I don’t know if I’m doing this right, so hopefully you can all see this! My favorite poem of tonight’s reading was The Douglas Tragedy. I felt that its poetic methods aided it in capturing the feeling of trying to decide between two fates but prematurely being forced into a decision. In particular, the poem depicts how many women at this time were caught in a life of standing on the side lines of their own battles and following the winner. This side-lining is demonstrated in the sixth stanza: “She held his steed in her milk-white hand, / And never shed one tear / Until that she saw her seven brethren fa’, / And her father hard fighting, who loved her so dear” (lines 21-24). The “milk-white hand” of the Lady Margaret is an image of her status as innocent and fragile, as pale skin was a connotation of lack of exposure to laborious tasks at the time. In this context, I see this description as emphasizing that the daughter is often on the outside of her own battles while the men fight to protect her fragility. The saddest part of this line to me is how the daughter’s side-line perspective gives her a full view of her loved ones fighting to the death. In this way, despite her side-lining being meant to protect her innocence, she has the most tragic perspective on the fight– she doesn’t have the adrenaline of the fight to block her emotions, and her only job is to hold the horse and watch the strokes of the swords. In stanza 9, Lord William gives the lady her first choice of the entire poem: “‘O choose, O choose, Lady Margaret,’ he said, / O whether will ye gang or bide?'” (lines 33-34). The lady replies: “‘I’ll gang, I’ll gang, Lord William,’ she said, / ‘For ye have left me no other guide’ (lines 35-36). The lady’s response highlights the irony in Lord William’s offering her a choice, as he has effectively already removed her alternative option. The structure of the poem mirrors the fact that, no matter what happens or who wins the battle, Margaret’s fate is bound to her men’s choices, as the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the poem are consistent throughout its story’s twists and turns, forcing the fate of the story into its poetic confines. The repetition in this particular stanza emphasizes the promise of the lady’s impending fate, as it provides a predictability to the lines.
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