Interpretation of a Poem

The Butcher’s Daughter

The poem “The Butcher’s Daughter” consists of 14 stanzas. It is an alternating exchange between mother and daughter about the daughter’s dating antics. The girl meets all sorts of men who make approaches to her, her mother, though, reminds her of the fact that she is the butcher’s daughter and must therefore not date outside her social class.

The attitude of the mother thereby changes between rather tender motherly care (where have you been, my little daughter out in the wild weather?) and a slightly more condescending tone in telling her daughter off (Oh no, my treasure you must come in and shut the door).

The men her daughter meets in her life are somewhat stereotypes of desirable men who young girls would naturally fall for. The sailor, the man of war and the prince are all connected with romantic and exotic ideas about passionate love.

The men’s “gifts” for the girl to win her over develop from a mere materialistic value up to abstract concepts like the knowledge of good and evil. Yet the girl’s mother is not satisfied with any of those proposals and tells her daughter to stop associating with such men.

The last man who the girl meets is eventually a butcher. Apart from the already rather unromantic reputation of this profession, also the gift the butcher provides is questionable. He is sharpening a knife for her. Butchers usually do this in preparation for killing something. In this case, a possible interpretation would be that he is finally killing the girl’s dreams about affectionate flings with desirable men and brings her back down to earth. She is a butcher’s daughter and therefore she has to get together with a fellow butcher, and that’s that.

For that reason the mood of the poem changes from harmless and romantic at the beginning towards melancholic and slightly depressing at the end.