#asoiaf songs

[laurellerual]

Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass

My Featherbed has one of the most complete lyrics Martin wrote into the books. Its wiki page speculates that the 'real' title of the song may be Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass. I always thought this was the name of another Tom's song with similar themes, but that makes me wonder...

If this is true it could be an indication that we still don't know the full text of this song. It is in fact common for this kind of ballad not to have a real title, but to be known by one of their verses and Lay my sweet lass down in the grass sounds a lot like a lost verse.

In the first eight verses the lord explains to the lass how their relationship should be according to the traditional canons of marriage. In the next eight verses the lass explains to him what the relationship could be like, she rejects this canons and propose her alternative. Therefore the text as we know it closes with an open ending: will the lord accepts the lass for who she is?

Oh, lay my sweet lass down in the grass seems to be the positive answer to the lass's proposal. These words could be part of a final rhyming couplets, or a refrain, or two lines of a lost final stanza. Let's see:

One of the clues that My Featherbed and Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass may be the same song is the words repetition. In the known text of My Featherbed there are internal repetitions and by connecting these two lost verses other significant repetitions are added. Especially noteworthy is lay down which appear at the beginning and (according to my theory) close the song, with the reconciliation of the two lovers.

Another important clue usefull for interpretating the song in its entirety lies in the words the lord chooses to speak to the lass:

At the beginning of the song he says to the her: "I will dress YOU", almost without taking into consideration the lass' will.

And the lass responds reaffirming herself by telling him: "I will dress MYSELF", in a “this is the person I am and if your love is true you'll accept it” kind of way.

In the hypothetical lost final stanza it's againg the lord's turn to speak, but this time he has listened to her and learned his lesson. This time he doesn't say "I'll lay YOU down", but "YOU lay YOURSELF down". In this way he shows he understood her point and in fact he no longer calls her my lady love, but my lass because he accepted to be her forest love and gave up being her lord.

Conclusions:

I think this missing part of the song reinforce the idea of Arya and Gendry as an anti-parallel to Lyanna and Robert.

Also the missing verses thet tell us about the reconciliation of the two lovers, after overcoming the social expectations that separated them, may have been omitted on purpose. Why? If I'm right I expect that, after reuniting, Arya and Gendry will hear the song again, this time in its entirety, in a scene that may parallel Acorn Hall.

The end. I did my best with the analysis, but if anyone with more experience in English poetry than me would like to contribute to this post they are welcome.

[thecringeslayer]

Songs I think are asoiaf-like <3

[chic-beyond-the-wall]

More medieval dyes for y'all!

[dreamingdruka]

THIS IS THE THING OF THE YEAR IN CERTAIN CIRCLES GO STREAM!!!!!

[quixoticclown]

Yes, these Muppets have taken Manhattan. The question now is can they HOLD it

[irlplasticlamb]

to be loved means to be consumed.

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[emproleon]

-Princess of Dragonstone and Heir to The Iron Throne-

[starspilli]

one for sorrow

[reneewalkersknives]

one egregious thing the game of thrones show misses out on is that the stark kids are CONSTANTLY thinking abt each other!! there isn’t like a single POV chapter from any of them where they don’t long for their siblings!! Jon wants to have a son and name him Robb!! Bran wants to be a bird so him and his siblings can live in a nest together!! Sansa prays for her siblings every night and makes the Winterfell castle and then gets upset bc there’s no one to throw snow at!! Needle IS Jon!! Arya’s list is her own prayer for her siblings, she doesn’t care that Joffrey is dead bc Robb is too!! Every single one of them believes that their big brother will come to save them!! there’s sm love and tenderness there and GOT missed out on lots of it bc it tries too hard for the grimdark angle without realising that the center of the stark’s story is their love for each other. anyways.

[dalberadiata]

Estoy estresada por la entrega de un proyecto de investigación de la universidad

Esta Laena me ayudó a concentrarme en algo más

[laurellerual]

The wiki page says:

Lady Ravella Smallwood says Tom of Sevenstreams sings "Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass" to woo women into his bed, but he corrects her saying he sings "Let Me Drink Your Beauty" instead. The lyrics for both of these songs are unknown but soon after Tom starts singing what appears to be the lyrics of "Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass": My featherbed is deep and soft...

[taoooba]

“ With Fire and Blood , I Shall Take It”

[idonsul]

[arte072]

Aemma Arryn 👑💙🦅

[knightsickness]

robert era westeros dashboard simulation

🫁 maidenless

JON ARRYN DEAD 🦀🦀🦀

🐉 rhaegarsvalyria—deactivated

imagine you are lost targaryen princess danaerys marrying your dear brother, prince viserys targaryen 🤍👰🏼‍♀️

📜 citadelscribe

deactivated… king robert got them

🐺 starkupdates

if you don’t speak politics ned’s basically saying ‘not this time, cunt - papa wolf ned isn’t letting you fuck with his pack. while we’re at it, you’re a terrible jouster, bitch!’ to jaime lannister. who else is doing it like him!!

🥘 bowlofbrown

crying at this they’re both lords they DO NOT care if you live or die. what’s wrong with you people

🌞 bowedbentbroken

aren’t their families literally intermarrying

🪵 riverlandspussy

serfs would stan a dog if it was landed

🐊 lizardlion

bracken dick would be good if they didn’t talk about how much better they fuck than the blackwoods the entire time

🌳 oldegodluvrr

why house blackwood stays 🔛🔝

🗝 livesbythefingers

i have terrible news about what blackwoods also talk about during sex

🔥 melisandre

the red represents projected support for STANNIS BARATHEON - king robert’s once and future HEIR

🦑 saltmalewife

shitting myself at this

🐦 muttonmouthed

stannis there’s doubts near the bloody gate watch out !!

💘 luckylikestcriston

🎭 silkyourstreet

every so often someone accidentally reinvents the fourth council of baelor

🦀 celtigwhore

how is crone not sweeping do you people hate women

🫁 maidenless

JON ARRYN STILL DEAD 🦀🦀🦀

🐴 littlestfrey

why are we celebrating? what did he do? /gen

📜 citadelscribe

known cuckold

🌞 bowedbentbroken

do you think littlefinger and varys ever no i shan’t say

🪸 patchpatchpatchface

on earth, the lords eat roast, and the peasants gruel !! in hell, the lords eat gruel, and the peasants roast !!

🪨 dragonstoner

another patchface banger

🦑 saltmalewife

the man cannot miss

[irlplasticlamb]

i must not fear. fear is the mind-killer.

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