A Belly Laugh Ballad Below you will find a poem that is an example of a ballad. A ballad tells a short story and is meant to be sung. Here is a very funny English Ballad that contains a universal theme. Some of the words have been paraphrased from Old English. The other words you will be able to figure out.
Directions: Read the poem below. To the right, annotate the poem by summarizing what is happening in each stanza. The first stanza has been done for you. Once you finish, answer the questions below.
Get Up and Bar the Door
PoemAnnotations
It fell about the Martinmas time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to make,
She’d boiled them in the pan.

The wind so cold blew south and north.
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife
“Get up and bar the door.”

“My hand is in my housework,
Goodman, you may see
And it will not be barred for a hundred years
If it has to be barred by me!”

So they made a pact between them two,
They made it firm and sure.
That whoever was the first to speak
Should rise and bar the door.

Then by there came two gentlemen,
At twelve o’clock at night,
They could neither see house nor hall
Nor coal nor candlelight.

They called, “Is this a rich man’s house,
Or do you say it’s poor?”
But ne’er a word would one of them speak
For barring of the door.

And first they ate the white puddings
And then they ate the black:
Tho the goodwife thought much to herself,
Yet ne’er a word she spake.

Then said one robber to another
“Here man, take ye my knife;
Do ye take off the old man’s beard
And I’ll kiss the goodwife.”

“But there’s no water in the house,
And what shall we do then?”
“We’ll use the pudding water
That boils in the pan!”

Up then started our goodman.
An angry man was he.
“Will ye kiss my wife before my eyes
And scald me with pudding bree?”

Then up and started our goodwife,
Did three skips on the floor;
“Goodman, you’ve spoken the foremost word;
Get up and bar the door!”

Answer the following questions about the poem.
1. Who are the protagonists?

2. Who are the antagonists?

3. What is the theme (lesson) of this ballad?

4. What serious point or moral is made by this funny story?

5. Write a brief summary of the story in this ballad.