Poetry · Chapter
Meg Merrilies explained
A poetic portrait of Old Meg, a Gipsy woman who lives freely on the moors, subsisting on wild berries and dew, finding family in nature, and crafting garlands and rush mats.
What happens
A poetic portrait of Old Meg, a Gipsy woman who lives freely on the moors, subsisting on wild berries and dew, finding family in nature, and crafting garlands and rush mats. She is described as brave and tall, clad in a red blanket coat and chip hat, and is remembered long after her death.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Imagination
Meg's entire existence is intertwined with the natural world—her bed is heath turf, her food wild berries, her family the hills and trees.
Sorrow and Melancholy
Despite her free life, there is a melancholic undertone in her solitary existence and the final line 'She died full long agone.'
Characters to notice
- Daisy
Meg Merrilies is portrayed as a Gipsy woman living on the moors, identified with the alias 'Meg' from the canonical character Daisy.
Key passages
“Old Meg she was a Gipsy, And liv’d upon the Moors: Her bed it was the brown heath turf, And her house was out of doors.”
Meg was a Gipsy who lived on the moors, sleeping on the heath and having no indoor home.
Introduces Meg's nomadic, outdoor lifestyle.
“Her Brothers were the craggy hills, Her Sisters larchen trees— Alone with her great family She liv’d as she did please.”
She considered the hills her brothers and the larch trees her sisters, living contentedly in solitude with nature as her family.
Emphasizes her kinship with the natural landscape.
“Old Meg was brave as Margaret Queen And tall as Amazon: An old red blanket coat she wore; A chip hat had she on.”
Meg was as courageous as Queen Margaret and as tall as an Amazon warrior, dressed in a worn red blanket coat and a simple chip hat.
Highlights her strength and distinctive appearance.