Reader TTS

A 12-LINE POEM WITH A CLEAR MESSAGE, PLUS TWO UNNECESSARY EXTRA LINES Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552–1618) led an adventurous life, being credited (almost certainly falsely) with introducing

potatoes and tobacco to England , as well as being a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, although he fell foul of her successor, King James I, and ended his life on the executioner’s

block. He was also an accomplished poet whose work anticipated the metaphysical style of John Donne. There is a famous portrait of Raleigh (in London’s National Portrait Gallery) that shows

him alongside his son Walter (1593–1618), who was the addressee of “Sir Walter Raleigh to his Son”. The younger Walter grew up to be somewhat unruly and mischievous. He was killed during his

father’s disastrous final expedition to Guiana. THE POEM _Three things there be that prosper up apace And flourish, whilst they grow asunder far, But on a day, they meet all in one place,

And when they meet, they one another mar; And they be these: the wood, the weed, the wag. The wood is that which makes the gallow tree; The weed is that which strings the hangman’s bag; The

wag, my pretty knave, betokeneth thee. Mark well, dear boy, whilst these assemble not Green springs the tree, hemp grows, the wag is wild, But when they meet, it makes the timber rot, It

frets the halter, and it chokes the child. Then bless thee, and beware, and let us pray We part not with thee at this meeting day._ DISCUSSION The poem is sometimes printed as a sonnet of

fourteen lines, following the Shakespearian rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. However, the final couplet seems to be unnecessary to the sense of the poem and an unwelcome addition. The poem

works far better with twelve lines, and that is how it often appears. The poem has to be approached with the understanding that it was intended to be ironic, which was the tone that best

suited Raleigh’s powers as a poet. The irony, which takes the form of black humour, came from a man who knew all about the misfortunes and uncertainties of life and how the unpredictable

coming together of things can have good or bad consequences. Although the poem is addressed to a young child (“my pretty knave”) Raleigh would have had a wider audience in mind, who would

have known all about the vicissitudes of life. The first four lines introduce the theme in the form of a puzzle or riddle, stating that there are three things that “grow asunder far” but,

when brought together “all in one place”, “they one another mar”. The reader is thus invited to hazard a guess as to what these might be, and is thus encouraged to read further. The second

group of four lines states what these three things are, but does not fully answer the riddle. In the fifth line they are named (“the wood, the weed, the wag”), which continues the suspense

for just a little longer, and the following three lines explain, in turn, what these are. By “wood” is meant “the gallows tree”, the “weed” is the hemp that “strings the hangman’s bag”

(which is put over the head of the condemned man), and “the wag, my pretty knave, betokeneth thee”. In the final four lines (assuming that one ignores the extra couplet) the puzzle is

solved, introduced by “Mark well, dear boy”. The eighth/ninth lines (“whilst these assemble not, / Green springs the tree, hemp grows, the wag is wild”) refers back to the poem’s opening

lines, but then Raleigh springs the surprise with “But when they meet, it makes the timber rot, / It frets the halter, and it chokes the child.” It is interesting to note that the three

elements are seen to suffer in equal measure, each being harmed by the presence of the other two. The choking of the child is therefore seen as being no more important than the rotting of

the tree (dead trees, with bare branches, were often used as gallows) and the fretting, or chafing, of the hangman’s rope. This equivalence is therefore to be regarded in an ironic way, as

is the notion that a child might be hanged for merely being “wild”. The poem can therefore be regarded in a similar light to children’s stories down the centuries in which naughtiness is

punished with a savagery that far outweighs the offence. The stories of the Brothers Grimm or the “Cautionary Tales” of Hilaire Belloc come to mind in this context. The generally

light-hearted tone is also indicative that the message must not be taken too seriously by its original addressee. That said, it should be remembered that Raleigh lived in dangerous times

when a person could be hanged for a wide variety of crimes, and the poem is ominously prescient in that Raleigh would die by execution. However, as a nobleman he, or his son, would never

have faced death by hanging given that beheading was the means of execution reserved for their class. This poem therefore contains a dual message, depending on how old the reader or hearer

might be. It either works as a “puzzle poem” which contains a dreadful warning for a wayward child, or it emphasises the fragility of life and points to the tragic irony of existence. The

twelfth line would seem to be the proper place to end this poem, because the extra couplet that makes it into a sonnet only serves to spoil the overall effect: _“Then bless thee, and beware,

and let us pray We part not with thee at this meeting day.”_ There is simply no need for it, and it detracts from the flow of the preceding lines by adding a new concept that is not only

unwelcome to the poem as it stands but adds a new puzzle right at the end, namely the need to explain the meaning of the last line which would appear to belong to another poem entirely. For

other similar pieces, see my List: Poems Explained ************************************************************* Follow this link to join Medium, where you can read many more pieces by me

and other members, if you have not already done so! If you do, please be aware that a portion of your (very low!) membership fee will go to me. https://medium.com/@johnwelford15/membership