“The Trooper Cut Down in His Prime”
Description
The singer sees a trooper "wrapped up in flannel yet colder than clay." He dies as "the bugles were playin'," and details of the burial are given. His gravestone warns, "Flash-girls of the city have quite ruined me."
Notes
One of the large group of ballads ("The Bard of Armagh," "Saint James Hospital," "The Streets of Laredo") ultimately derived from "The Unfortunate Rake." All use the same or similar tunes and meter, and all involve a person dying as a result of a wild life, but the nature of the tragedy varies according to local circumstances. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, plot) and references there
- cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune & meter, plot)
- cf. "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26] (tune & meter, plot)
- cf. "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (tune & meter, plot)
References
- Darling-NAS, p. 6, "The Trooper Cut Down In His Prime" (1 text)
- Roud #2
- BI, DarNS006