Ballad Love Annotated

Ballad - Love
The poem, Ballad, looks to view love in a very negative and cynical way, as this seems to be a classic tale of a man who manipulates a woman. The poem starts off with a 'faithless shepherd' who 'courted' a young girl. At this point, we are not made aware of the girl's name. Slightly later, in the opening stanza, we are told about how the shepherd 'stole away' her 'liberty when my poor heart was strange to men', and she clarifies this again on the next line, once again by saying 'He came and smiled and stole it then', we begin to get a feel that the poet is trying to convey how powerful love can be, as the shepherd manipulates the girl, who simply agrees to everything the shepherd desires.
Later in the poem, we see evidence that
"When summer brought no fears to fright he came to guard me every night When winter nights did darkly prove none came to guard me or love", this quotation conveys feelings of loneliness, fright, and sorrow in the way that she might be feeling, after what she's done. Also, the two parts of the quotation are juxtaposing one another, which is showing the reader the contrast. This is suggesting that the man manipulated her, whilst she loved him, and they were both happy at one point, in the metaphorical point, summer. This is conveying the complexity, and power of love, as well as seeing love to be quite cynical and negative in the way that people only get hurt by love.
The next stanza, about the girl making a wish, may be symbolic of the girl regretting getting pregnant, because if the link between the word, 'maid', and the apron quotation from earlier which was suggesting pregnancy. "I wish, I wish - but it's in vain I wish I wish I was a maid again", this quotation suggests that she regrets becoming pregnant as she want to be maid again, ‘maid’ suggesting, not pregnant. This creates a sense of regret when the girl thought it was a good idea to fall in love with the shepherd. Again, this adds a lot of complexity to her