Somersetshire Wassail by L. Edna Walter
Traditional wassail song: villagers go door to door, praising their ale and cup, asking a maid to unlock the door, appealing to the master and mistress by the fire, and requesting ale, raw milk cheese for the "poor travellers."
By L. Edna Walter · First published 1922 · Genre: Folk Song, Poetry, Ballad · 197 words
First lines
[Music]
1. Wassail! wassail! all round the town, / For the cup is white and the ale is brown, / For it's our wassail, and 'tis your wassail, / And 'tis joy come to our jolly wassail!
2. The cup is made of the ashen tree, / And the ale is made of the best barley, / For it's our wassail, etc.
3. O maid, fair maid in holland smock, / Come ope the door and turn the lock, / For it's our wassail, etc.
Similar titles
- A Ballad Of Santa Claus by Henry Van Dyke
- The Rum Parade by Andrew Barton Paterson
- The Cottage Thatched With Straw by Sabine Baring Gould
- A Christmas Greeting by Helen Gray Cone
- The Hearty Good Fellow by Sabine Baring Gould
- Song From The Rommany Or Gypsy Language by George Borrow
Genres
- Folk Song — Traditional English musical composition designed for communal singing with participatory structure, repetitive refrains, and oral transmission characteristic of folk music
- Poetry — Written in verse form with consistent rhyme scheme and repeated refrains, employing poetic devices and lyrical language throughout
- Ballad — Structured as a traditional English ballad meant for oral performance and group singing, featuring narrative elements and vernacular language
- Folklore — Documents and perpetuates the traditional English wassailing custom and regional cultural practices, serving as cultural artifact of British heritage
Tags
wassail song · Christmas carol · English folk song · folk tradition · Somersetshire · rural England · door-to-door caroling · winter tradition · festive · communal singing · hospitality customs · charity request
What this Textopian page supports
Somersetshire Wassail is listed on Textopian as a poem by L. Edna Walter, dated 1922 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: L. Edna Walter
- Date: 1922 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Folk Song, Poetry, Ballad, Folklore, Holiday/Christmas Literature
- Length: 197 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Somersetshire Wassail by L. Edna Walter
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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