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Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English by Thomas Campbell
Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary in English
The poem is a ballad, which tells the tragic tale of Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover, a Scottish chieftain. The poem begins with the girl and the chieftain arriving at the banks of Lochgyle with the intention of going across it, to safety. They are being closely followed by Lord Ullin and his men and so the two lovers are desperate to go across before others arrive at the shore. The lover requests the boatman to ferry them across and promises to pay him a silver pound.
The boatman hesitates because the weather is stormy and it is dangerous to cross the Loch just then. But, when the girl pleads with him and says that she would rather face the stormy weather than an angry father who would surely kill her lover, the boatman is touched and agrees to take them across without money.
Thus, the boat leaves the shore just as Lord Ullin and his men reach the place. All his anger evaporates the moment he sees his daughter in the boat, battling against the fury of the raging tempest. The sight of his daughter crying out for help from the storm-ravaged boat melts his heart and he cries out to her to return with the assurance that he would forgive her. But it is too late and before his very eyes the little boat capsizes and the two lovers and the boatman are drowned in the turbulent waters.
The mood of the poem is very dark, serious, emotional and sad as it recounts the tragic tale of the two lovers. The setting of the poem is the Scottish Highlands.
Lord Ullin’s Daughter Summary Questions and Answers
Question 1.
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions by ticking the correct choice.
a. Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover are trying to:
(i) escape the wrath of her father.
(ii) settle in a distant land.
(iii) challenge the storm in the lake.
(iv) trying to prove their love for each other
Answer:
Escape the wrath of her father.
b. The boatman agrees to ferry them across because:
(i) he has fallen in love with Lord Ullin’s daughter.
(ii) he wants to avenge Lord Ullin.
(iii) he has lost his love.
(iv) he is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.
Answer:
He is sorry for the childlike innocence of the lady.
c. The mood changes in the poem. It transforms from:
(i) happiness to fear.
(ii) anxiety to grief.
(iii) fear to happiness.
(iv) love to pain.
Answer:
Anxiety to grief.
d. The shore of Lochgyle has been referred to as fatal shore! ’ The poetic device used here is:
(i) metaphor
(ii) simile
(iii) transferred epithet
(iv) onomatopoeia
Answer:
Transferred epithet.
Question 2.
In pairs, copy and complete the summary of the poem with suitable words/expressions.
Answer:
A Scottish Chieftain and his beloved were (a) running awav from her wrathful father. As they reached the shores, the (b) chieftain told a boatman to (c) ferrv them across Lochgyle. He asked him to do it quickly because if (d) her father’s men found them, they would kill him. The boatman (e) agreed to take them not for the (f) silver pound that the chieftain offered but for his (g) voung. innocent bride. By this time, the storm had (h) begun and a wild wind had started blowing. The sound of (i) trampling could be heard close at hand. The lady urged the boatman (j) to hurry as she did not want to face an angry father.
Their boat left the (k) stormy land and as it got caught in the stormy sea, Lord Ullin reached the deadly (1) shore. His anger changed to wailing when he saw his daughter (m) caught in the storm. He asked her to return to the shore. But it was (n) futile as the stormy sea claimed his daughter and her lover.
Question 3.
Why does Lord Ullin’s daughter defy her father and elope with her lover?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s daughter defies her father and runs away with her lover because her father refuses to let her marry the person she loves. Hence, if she wants to marry her lover, her only option is to elope with him.
Question 4.
Give two characteristics of the boatman who ferries the couple across the sea.
Answer:
The boatman is tender because he is able to sympathise with the innocent girl who has braved the elements and her father’s wrath for the person she loves.
He is also courageous because he agrees to ferry the lovers across the lake in the raging storm, endangering his own life in the process.
Question 5.
Imagery’ refers to something that can be perceived through more than one of the senses. It uses figurative language to help form mental pictures. Campbell used vivid, diverse and powerful imagery to personify the menacing face of nature. Pick out expressions that convey the images of anger in the following stanzas.
Answer:
Stanza 6 • ‘raging white’
Stanza 7 • ‘water-wraith was shrieking’
Stanza 9 • ‘raging of the skies’
Stanza 10 • ‘stormy seas’
Stanza 13 • ‘stormy water’
Stanza 14 • ‘loud waves lash’d the shore’,‘water wild’
Question 6.
Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.
‘His horsemen hard behind us ride:
Should they our steps discover.
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?’
a. Who is ‘his’ in line l? Who does ‘us’ refer to?
Answer:
Lord Ullin is referred to as ‘his’ in line l. The chieftain and his lover, Lord Ullin’s daughter, are referred to as ‘us’.
b. Explain – ‘cheer my bonny bride’.
Answer:
In this phrase ‘bonny’ implies attractive or beautiful. In this phrase, the young chieftain argues that if he is slain by Lord Ullin’s men, nobody will be able to keep his lover happy.
c. Why would the lover be slain?
Answer:
The lover would be slain for daring to run away with Lord Ullin’s daughter.
Question 7.
In Stanza 10, the poet says –
‘The boat has left a stormy land,
A stormy sea before her, ———– ’
a. In both these lines, the word ‘stormy ’ assumes different connotations. What are they?
Answer:
In the lines, the land is considered to be stormy because it is dangerous for the young couple as Lord Ullin’s ‘ men are pursuing them over land on horseback. The sea is stormy because there is, actually, a storm brewing over the sea. ’
b. The lady faces a dilemma here. What is it? What choice does she finally make?
Answer:
The Lady has to choose between the stormy land, representing the wrath of her father, and the sea, upon which a storm is raging. She chooses to risk her life in the stormy sea rather than face her angry father.
Question 8.
‘Lord Ullin reached that fatal shore’ just as his daughter left it. (Stanza 11).
a. Why is the shore called fatal?
Answer:
The shore is called fatal because Lord Ullin’s daughter and her lover escape to the sea from that shore, only to be killed in the open sea.
b. Why does Lord Ullin’s wrath change into wailing on seeing his daughter?
Answer:
Lord Ullin’s wrath changes to wailing on seeing his daughter because, in her haste to escape her father, she drowns in the stormy sea.