Second Paper: "Sir Patrick Spens"

Nobility’s Changing Definition

In ancient Sumeria, a leader, or lugal (Coffin), was the strongest person in the area.  He had gained a reputation for conquest, and he was expected to protect his people and his city from invasion, and therefore had to stay fit, or else risk being overthrown or conquered.  For millennia, most western civilizations followed this model.  In the Scottish ballad “Sir Patrick Spens,” however, the nobles—even the king himself—send others to do their bidding, showing how much the concept of nobility has changed in the intervening millennia.

The king “sits in Dumferline town” (line 1).  He is a lazy king, and a drunk at that.    In addition, he is “Drinking the blude-reid wine” (line 2).  The fact that the wine is not just red, but blood red shows “the ease with which he controls other people's lives. He sends men to their deaths as casually as one might drink a glass of wine” (Overview).  The ballad does not go into the king’s reason for needing a ship to sail during such a bad time of year, but his cry of “O whar” suggests that he is merely drunk and sending a ship to sail on a whim (line 3).  He writes “a braid [or broad] letter” (line 9), suggesting that the king’s drunkenness has not only caused him to waste precious paper in poor calligraphy as a “result of a drinker's loss of motor control,” but that he has also become overly verbose while in his cups (Ryan).  The king is supposed to be the noblest, bravest man among his people, but instead he is a lazy, drunken child, who plays with the lives of his countrymen.

The nobles at court are not much better.  One of the elder knights, who because of his age is supposedly one of the wisest among the nobles, suggests to his majesty, “Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor/That sails upon the sea” (lines 7-8).  Either the knight is just as petty as the king, and trying to get Sir Patrick Spens killed, or he is drunk as well, and has forgotten that it is a bad season for sailing.

Some other nobles sail with Sir Patrick, after he has received the news of the king’s whimsy.  One complains that “late yestre’en I saw the new moon/Wi’ the auld moon in her arm,/And I fear, I fear, my dear master,/That we will come to harm” (lines 25-28).  Granted that the new moon with the barest hint of crescent was seen as an omen to a coming storm (Overview), and that it is a bad time of year for sailing, there is still something to be said for keeping up morale in the face of bad odds.  These “Scots nobles” who are sailing with Sir Patrick are loath even to get their shoes wet (lines 29-30), which any sailor must do.  The nobles are therefore just as ignoble as the king.

As the women wait for their men to return, they stand with gold combs in their hair and fans in their hands.  While combs were of superstitious significance in Scotland at the time (Ryan), here they are merely decorative, as are the women themselves.  They have fans with which they can attempt to control the weather, but since they cannot control the fates of their men, they merely stand there doing nothing.  Even noble women in more ancient western civilizations led hard lives; during the Scottish time period in which “Sir Patrick Spens” was popular, this is no longer the case.  Noble women have become only trophies; they make themselves up to look pretty and do nothing to contribute to the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed.

At the other end of the spectrum is Sir Patrick Spens himself.  At first, Sir Patrick does lament going to sea at such an inauspicious time, but tells his men to “Make haste, make haste,” and he calls them “mirry men” (line 21), attempting to boost their morale.  Sir Patrick is a born leader, though his social status is not as high as the others in court, and he is most certainly not the king.  He has no authority to change the orders he is given, but that does not matter.  His leadership and his courage in sailing during such a bad time of year helps to elevate him above all the nobility—and the monarchy—of Scotland.  After the ship is sunk, Sir Patrick lies “Wi’ the Scots lords at his feet” (line 44), showing he is the best of them all when it comes to valor.

While the definition of the term “nobility” has changed to something resembling an inbred peacock farm, ballads such as “Sir Patrick Spens” show that there are still yearnings in the human spirit for true leaders.  These leaders, like the lugals of ancient Sumeria, show courage, honor, and dependability even when following orders from lazy, drunken monarchs.

Works Cited

Coffin, Judith, Robert Stacey, Joshua Cole, and Carol Symes. "Chapter 1: Early Civilizations: The Culture of Sumer." Western Civilizations Their History & Their Culture. Seventeenth ed. Vol. 1. W W Norton & Co, 2011. 11. Print.

Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. "Sir Patrick Spens." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Eighth ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 2902-903. Print.

"Overview: 'Sir Patrick Spens'." Poetry for Students. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

Ryan, William M. "Formula and Tragic Irony in 'Sir Patrick Spens,'." Southern Folklore Quarterly 44 (1980): 73-83. Rpt. in Poetry for Students. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.

Teacher Comments and Grade: Darcy,
I really like what you're doing here, especially since Sir Patrick Spence s a long time favorite of mine -- have you heard Fairport Convention's version?  However a lot of what you say about the king's drunkenness seems to go beyond the evidence you refer to and i think you need a little more development.
grade = A minus