The Three Ravens is one of the best known of the
English and Scottish popular BALLADS of the late
Middle Ages. It may be one of the earliest extant ballads,
though it was first printed only in Thomas
Ravencroft’s Melismata (1611). In any case the apparent
metamorphosis of the lover into a doe is
characteristic of ancient songs (Morgan 1996, 119).
The ballad is an analogue to The Twa Corbies
and some believe also to the CORPUS CHRISTI
CAROL. The formation of such analogues is easy to
understand when one takes into account the oral
tradition of balladry. There is argument as to
whether The Twa Corbies or The Three Ravens is
the earlier of the two ballads. It now appears that
the more cynical Twa Corbies was the original and
The Three Ravens may be aristocratic adaptation.
Like many ballads the main image of The Three
Ravens is tragic. Three Ravens discuss what they
are going to have for breakfast. One spies a fallen
knight that lies under his shield.Another raven notices
that the knight’s hawk and hound protect
him. A pregnant deer buries the knight and dies
that evening of a broken heart. Most commentators
assume that the doe is the knight’s lover, transformed
into a deer.
Other interpretations of the poem have suggested
that the knight is Christ and the deer the
bride of Christ, the Christian soul. Another suggestion
is that the knight is the Maimed King, of
the Grail tradition. Certainly much is made in the
poem of the knight’s bloody wounds, kissed by the
doe. There may be an allusion in this to the Eucharist,
the consumption of the body and blood of
Christ. This is the chief aspect of the poem that
connects it to the Corpus Christi Carol.
Bibliography
Child, Francis James, ed. The English and Scottish Popular
Ballads. New York: Cooper Square, 1965.
Morgan, Gwendolyn A., ed, and trans. Medieval Ballads:
Chivalry, Romance, and Everyday Life: A Critical
Anthology. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.
Malene A. Little