Unrequited Love In Maude Clare, And As You Came From The Holy Land

Human experiences are commonly expressed themes across the centuries, without geographical boundaries. Literature, such as ballads, frequently expresses these experiences and work to shape how cultures mold themselves. One common human experience seen in ballads through time is unrequited love. Unrequited love is the instance where one-sided love occurs where the receiver of affections may not know or they actively reject the sender’s love. This theme can be broken down into three smaller sub-ideas of loneliness, rejection, and a continued desire for love. Works such as “Ballad of the Cool Fountain,” “Maude Clare,” and “As You Came from the Holy Land” perfectly portray this theme. Rejection also intermingles itself into the feelings of unrequited love.

(Rossetti)

This idea is seen across all three ballads as the bird continues to love the girl, the only man continues to love the young woman, and the wife continues to love the husband. The continued desire for love completes the concept of unrequited love and is seen in every ballad. Unrequited love can almost be seen as a step ladder with each rung containing a smaller theme and as you get higher, you reach more or less themes. All three ballads, the “Ballad of the Cool Fountain,” “Maude Clare,” and “As You Came from the Holy Land,” all have characters appear to go up the ladder. They first reach rejection where their feelings are opposed or shut down. They then go on to loneliness where they understand that their feelings are not returned and become sorrowful. Lastly, they reach the continued desire for love where they know the other person does not share their feelings, but the lovers continue to chase their affections. Despite the large gap in time between each ballad and their differences in origin, unrequited love appears again and again as a common human