Many Dylan commentators read Queen Jane as a love song. The song ends with a terrific line that defines the non-necessity of the spoken word between two true lovers: Come to me when you “want somebody you don’t have to speak to”. Now when all of the flower ladies want back what they have lent youĪnd the smell of their roses does not remainĪnd all of your children start to resent you There’s no need to think too hard about the lyrics, they are simple and direct.īut just because the lyrics are simple doesn’t mean they aren’t good. God is a friend to the poor orphan child.The relatively straightforward lyrics and smooth sound of Queen Jane Approximately add some contrast to the lyrically complex and up-tempo songs that precede it. Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me. Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled: There is a thought that for strength should avail me, Still will my Father, with promise and blessing, Or stray in the marshes, by false lights beguiled, God, in his mercy, protection is showing,Ĭomfort and hope to the poor orphan child.Į’en should I fall o’er the broken bridge passing, Yet distant and softly the night-breeze is blowing,Ĭlouds there are none, and the clear stars beam mild. Watched o’er the steps of a poor orphan child. Men are hard-hearted, and kind angels only Up where the moors spread and grey rocks are piled?
Why did they send me so far and so lonely, Soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary Long is the way, and the mountains are wild My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary Here are the lyrics, as presented in the novel Jane Eyre: If you listen closely, you will hear the melody used in other scenes as well. This was another reason I wished to include it, in part, in our production. Yet there is a spiritual hope of ultimate and eternal family in the ballad, morbid though it must have seemed to a child. Charlotte was four at the time and cannot be expected to have strong memories of her mother. Charlotte’s own mother had died a year after her sixth child was born. Lack of mothers was not uncommon, since death in childbirth was still so prevalent a danger for women at the time. Not only children but adults are without parents: Rochester’s father died when he was a young man (no mention is made of his mother) the Rivers siblings have lost their parents. Indeed, orphans are a recurring theme, since not only Jane but Adele is (possibly) parentless the school where Jane teaches later in the story also includes orphans (notably little Alice, Jane’s attendant). Although the song’s origin (and singer) are not explained in the context of the play, they have a mournful quality which is appropriate to Jane’s orphan state.
The result will be heard in the opening moments of the play. But the words were quite evocative to me, and I found myself compelled to write a melody for them. Whether she had a melody in mind when she wrote them is anybody’s guess, as no tune is listed. I hunted online to see whether “The Poor Orphan Child” was an actual ballad of the time (popular folk ballads were printed as cheap sheet music and sold on street corners or shops).Īll evidence points to Charlotte Bronte herself as the author of the lyrics. Reason I relish the chance to revisit a favorite book after a few years. The cover of my first (paperback) copy of “Jane Eyre”–read until it fell apart.
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