Lord Ullin's Daughter Summary Class 9 English

Theme of Lord Ullin's Daughter

Ballad Structure: This poem embodies every essential aspect of ballad. It has a straightforward rhyming system. The story it relates may have roots in Scottish folklore. Even more impressive is the presence of the water-wraith, a mythical figure whose mere sight is said to pretend human death in Gaelic folklore.

Therefore, the poem "Lord Ullin's Daughter" should be categorised as ballad.

Summary of Lord Ullin's Daughter

Thomas Campbell, one of the most famous writers of the late 70s wrote the popular romantic ballad "Lord Ullin's Daughter" in English language. The ballad tells the account of the tragic romance between the daughter of Lord Ullin and the Chieftain of Ulva Island. Despite Lord Ullin's opposition to their love story, his daughter denied his opinion and left away with her boyfriend.

The poem essentially describes the terrible story of Lord Ullin's daughter and her Scottish Chieftain Man Lover. At the beginning of the poem, it can be seen that the girl (Ullin's Daughter) and the chieftain essentially arrive at the banks of lodge hill with the goal of crossing it securely without telling their family.

They are being closely followed by Ullin and his men so that the lover who are desperate to go across to the shore before his men arrive, especially the people of lord Poland, they can bring his daughter back. The lover requests the boatman to ferry them across the aptitudes and will pay him a silver pound that was enough for the survival of the sailor.

The boat man despite of being offered a silver pound, hesitates because the weather is quite dangerous as the storm is going on across the shore at that particular time itself, but when the girl requests him and say that she would rather face the stormy weather than an angry father who would definitely kill her lover.

The boatman is distraught and offers to ferry them across without even asking for a single survival payment. Just as Lord Ullin and his men arrive at the location, the boat departs the shore.

All the anger of lord Ullin evaporates the movement he sees his daughter in the boat come up battling against the fury of the ranging environment. This side of his daughter crying for help due to their boat struck in the storm, melts the heart of a strict father and he cries out to her and make sure that he returned her safely to home and will surely forgive her. But now it is too late, as the boat get synced in the ocean due to heavy storm and two lovers and the boatman are drawn in the turbulence of water.

Note: as it tells the terrible story of the two lovers, the poem has a very sombre, solemn, emotive, and depressing tone. The Scottish Highlands serve as the poem's backdrop.

Common Questions and Answers related to the Poem

1. Lord Ullin's daughter and her lover are trying to do what?
   Lord Ullin's daughter and her lover are trying to escape the rudeness of the daughter's father, as he is not able to accept the boyfriend of her, and almost ready to kill his daughter and her boyfriend.
2. The boatman agrees to ferry the lovers across, what was the reason behind this?
   The boatman agrees to ferry the lovers across the shore, and the reason behind this is that the boatman was emotional and felt some emotions between the 2 lovers, and he felt sorry for the child like innocence of the lady, due to which he agreed to travel with them.
3. The mood changes in the poem. It transforms from what emotion to which emotion?
   The mood changes in the poem when the father saw his daughter got stuck in this storm, and the emotion changes from anxiety to grief.
4. Why does Lord Ullin's daughter defy her father and runs with her lover??
   Lord Ullin's daughter defies her father and runs away with her lover as her father refuses to accept the person and she indeed wants to marry her lover. Hence, if she wants to marry her lover, her only option was to escape her father's house
5. Give 2 characteristics of the boatman who fairies the couple across the sea?
   The boatman is emotional because he is able to sympathise with the innocent girl who has some brave elements of leaving her father's house just because of her lover, and she is also scared of her father's anger.
   The other character that we can see in the boatman is that he is courageous and we can see that through the incidence when he agrees to travel with the lovers even while the storm was going on.

Moral of the Poem

There is a significant lesson in this poetry. While parents have every right to keep their children safe, they are not entitled to make decisions about how they spend their lives. She (Ullin's Daughter) had to depart despite extremely bad weather since her father had threatened to break his daughter's relationship with the Chief of Ulva. She had learned to fear her father from an early age, so she preferred to face the fury of the sky and the seas over the anger of her father. She ended up drowning into the heavy sea. Even Lord Ullin's deepest regret could not spare the life of his beloved daughter.

Tone of Lord Ullin's Daughter

This poem has an exploratory tone in most of the sentences. As they read about the storm that the lovers are attempting to flee, readers get frilled with dread. The tone shifts to one of regret and guilt towards the end as Lord Ullin comes to terms with his error. Readers are unable to feel sympathy for him, even in the worst situation of his life.

Critical Analysis of Lord Ullin's Daughter

The Scottish ballad "Lord Ullin's Daughter" was written. The Scottish Highlands' actual terrain serves as the inspiration for the location. Both Ulva and Mull (whose chieftain was Lord Ullin) are actual lakes, as is Lochgyle Lake.

As a result, a significant portion of the poem is devoted to presenting both Scotland's attractive and frightening sides. The same environment that might enchant spirits can also result in a great deal of devastation death. Since Lord Ullin's daughter only speaks once during the entire poem, the title may initially seem misleading.

However, the majority of it is devoted to describing the conversation between the chief of Ulva and the boatman, as well as Lord Ullin's response to discovering his daughter at the door of death

What we must realise is that every other character in this poem has feelings for Lord Ullin's daughter. She is now wed to the Ulva Chief. For a parent, his child id the most important thing in the world. After observing the innocence in the face of Lord Ullin's daughter, even the boatman consents to row across the choppy lake. She is the sole reason the tragic journey is made and the story's lesson may be revealed. Parents are continuously watching out for their kids.

But they never conflate being protective with being possessive.Being overly possessive with a child might limit their independence and encourage rebellion. The daughter of Lord Ullin did this. She ran away from her father's fortness by eloping. His strict parenting style has resulted in the death of his daughter.

Conclusion

The ballad "Lord Ullin's Daughter" includes all the elements that create a good read for the readers who enjoy mysterious and emotionally filled poems. Along with love and adventure, there is also suspense that can be experienced in the poem. But everyone who reads it should take seriously the lesson it imparts which is quite significant.

Against her father's wishes, the Chief of Ulva eloped with Lord Ullin's daughter. Before they arrived at the edge of Lochgyle Lake, Lord Ullin's troop had been pursuing them for three consecutive days. The boatman agrees to take the pair across because he knows that Lord Ullin's men will kill the Chief of Ulva if they are found together. It is a stormy day. All the people present on the boat drown when the storm worsens.

As he prevented his daughter from dating the man of her choice, which forced her to run in such terrible weather, Lord Ullin is sorry, but now the situation has gone out f his hands. As a result, her daughter, and her lover, drowned into the deep sea and died.