Ballade of Worldly Wealth

Andrew Lang’s ballad “Ballade of Worldly Wealth” focuses on the effects of money and material goods. The first stanza talks about the fragility of the economy: “Money taketh town and wall, / Fort and ramp without a blow…” (1-2). Lang is saying that the most stable structures can “fall” from the influence of money, which is unstable as it relies on the good standing of merchants. It is the “ebb and flow” of the money which “maketh Evil show” (4-5). Lang is suggesting with these lines that money can drive merchants—and the towns that rely on them—to evil, and inevitable changes in morality, which he shows in the line “Like the Good, and Truth like lies” (6). This stanza reflects the cliché that money is the root of all evil because it can drive good people to do evil in desperation.

The second stanza discusses the seemingly positive effects of money. Lang says, “Money maketh festival, / Wine she buys, and beds can strow; / … Gaineth ladies with sweet eyes…” (11-14). Lang says that with money, it is possible to enjoy the pleasures of life, like parties, wine, and women, but still, he repeats the ending two lines of the previous stanza: “These alone can ne’er bestow / Youth, and health, and Paradise” (15-16). Lang emphasizes that regardless of the earthly benefits of hedonism, money can never buy salvation and eternity in Heaven, which is far more important than wine.

The final stanza turns the criticism onto how money affects the church. “Money wins the priest his stall; / Money mitres buys, I trow, / Red hats for the Cardinal, / Abbeys for the novice low; / Money maketh sin as snow, / Place of penitence supplies…” (17-22). Using morality and religious contexts, the line “Money maketh sin as snow” in particular shows that money overrules the goodness and morality of religion for the sake of religion; money gives absolution even more than a priest because money is necessary to keep the church alive and well, and to keep the Cardinals and priests in their appropriate clothing.

This poem is a ballad, as evidenced by its repeated final lines in each stanza. The repetition is important given the subject material of the poem, as it reinforces Lang’s point of critiquing the role of money in the shortcomings of his society. The attitudes of the stanzas shift as the details of the themes shift, which Lang uses to emphasize the issues; the first stanza focuses on the matter of economic troubles, and comes with a dire attitude, using words like “ebb and flow” to denote the instability, and naming Evil specifically, creating the atmosphere of doom. The second has a surface vibe of positivity, but the religious nature of the poet’s time meant that the audience would know that the debauchery described would only lead to damnation. The third stanza seems to be positive, showing how important money is to the religious institution, using positive or neutral verbs (“wins” and “buys,” in reference to the ways that money provides for the church), but still condemns the practice of using money to perform the role of the priest, giving it a layered meaning.

Calling this poem a “ballad” is another aspect of layered meanings. While ballads are generally associated with romance, while this poem shows the unromantic parts of life and the horrors of sin inspired by the influence of money. Lang uses these complex attitudes and atmospheres in his poems to dismiss money’s role in the lives of his audience. He purposefully creates a shallow positive in the second stanza, and to a lesser degree in the third, while keeping up a theme of evils that come from the influence of money and the desires of the flesh that money can fuel, as Lang describes in the first stanza.

Work Cited

Lang, Andrew. “Ballade of Worldly Wealth.” Poem Hunter. PoemHunter.com, 20 April, 2010. Web. 27 October, 2013.