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Young Ben he was a nice young man,
A carpenter by trade;
And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
That was a lady's maid.
But as they fetch'd a walk one day,
They met a press-gang crew;
And Sally she did faint away,
Whilst Ben he was brought to.
The Boatswain swore with wicked words,
Enough to shock a saint,
That though she did seem in a fit,
'Twas nothing but a feint.
"Come, girl," said he, "hold up your head,
He'll be as good as me;
For when your swain is in our boat,
A boatswain he will be."
So when they'd made their game of her,
And taken off her elf,
She roused, and found she only was
A coming to herself.
"And is he gone, and is he gone?"
She cried, and wept outright:
"Then I will to the water side,
And see him out of sight."
A waterman came up to her,
"Now, young woman," said he,
"If you weep on so, you will make
Eye-water in the sea."
"Alas! they've taken my beau Ben
To sail with old Benbow;"
And her woe began to run afresh,
As if she'd said Gee woe!.
Says he, "They've only taken him
To the Tender ship, you see";
"The Tender-ship," cried Sally Brown
"What a hard-ship that must be!".
"O! would I were a mermaid now,
For then I'd follow him;
But Oh!—I'm not a fish-woman,
And so I cannot swim.
"Alas! I was not born beneath
The virgin and the scales,
So I must curse my cruel stars,
And walk about in Wales."
Now Ben had sail'd to many a place
That's underneath the world;
But in two years the ship came home,
And all her sails were furl'd.
But when he call'd on Sally Brown,
To see how she went on,
He found she'd got another Ben,
Whose Christian-name was John.
"O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,
How could you serve me so?
I've met with many a breeze before,
But never such a blow":
Then reading on his 'bacco box
He heaved a bitter sigh,
And then began to eye his pipe,
And then to pipe his eye.
And then he tried to sing "All's Well,"
But could not though he tried;
His head was turn'd, and so he chew'd
His pigtail till he died.
His death, which happen'd in his berth,
At forty-odd befell:
They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton toll'd the bell.
Thomas Hood’s Faithless Sally Brown is a tragicomic ballad that intertwines social critique, linguistic wit, and emotional resonance. Written in the early 19th century, the poem reflects the turbulent realities of British naval impressment while deploying humor to underscore deeper existential and societal tensions. Through its narrative of love disrupted by institutional force, Hood crafts a layered commentary on human vulnerability, the caprices of fate, and the collision of personal agency with systemic oppression.
The poem’s backdrop-the press-gang system-was a brutal reality in 18th- and 19th-century Britain, where naval recruiters forcibly conscripted men into service, often tearing them from their families. Hood’s depiction of Ben’s abduction (“They met a press-gang crew; / And Sally she did faint away, / Whilst Ben he was brought to”) mirrors historical accounts of this practice, which intensified during the Napoleonic Wars212. The press-gang’s violence, as described in sources like Elizabeth Gaskell’s Sylvia’s Lovers (cited in2), left communities fractured and livelihoods destroyed. Hood’s choice to frame this trauma within a romantic narrative amplifies its emotional stakes, positioning Ben and Sally as casualties of a dehumanizing system.
Hood’s own life-marked by financial instability and ill health-likely informed his empathy for marginalized figures. His works, including The Song of the Shirt and The Bridge of Sighs, often spotlighted the plight of the poor3512. While Faithless Sally Brown adopts a lighter tone, its critique of institutional power aligns with Hood’s broader social consciousness. The poem’s humor, however, serves as a subversive tool, masking indignation beneath wordplay and irony.
Hood’s mastery of puns and homophones elevates the poem from mere balladry to a sophisticated linguistic exercise. The final stanza’s closing lines-
“They went and told the sexton, and
The sexton toll’d the bell”
-leverage the homophones told and toll’d to juxtapose communication and mortality, merging the mundane (informing the sexton) with the solemn (funeral bells)4914. This duality encapsulates the poem’s tragicomic essence: life’s absurdities persist even in death.
Similarly, Sally’s lament over the “Tender-ship” (a naval vessel) puns on “hardship,” highlighting the bureaucratic euphemisms that sanitize suffering2. Hood’s wordplay extends to mythological allusions: Sally’s wish to be a “mermaid” (a symbol of unattainable freedom) contrasts with her reality as a landlubber “not born beneath / The virgin and the scales” (Virgo and Libra zodiac signs), underscoring her entrapment in a fate she cannot swim away from16.
The poem’s structure-a ballad with quatrains and alternating tetrameter/trimeter lines-evokes oral storytelling traditions, making its social critique accessible to a broad audience. Yet Hood subverts expectations by avoiding a redemptive arc; Ben’s death by chewing his pigtail (a grimly humorous detail) rejects sentimentalism, emphasizing instead life’s arbitrary cruelties.
At its core, Faithless Sally Brown explores how external forces destabilize personal bonds. Ben and Sally’s romance is ruptured not by personal failings but by the press-gang’s intrusion, a metaphor for societal indifference to individual lives. Sally’s “faithlessness” is less a moral failing than a pragmatic response to abandonment-a nuance critiquing gendered expectations of loyalty11. When Ben returns to find Sally with “another Ben, / Whose Christian name was John,” Hood underscores the interchangeability of human lives in a system that reduces individuals to expendable labor.
The poem also interrogates the illusion of agency. Ben’s press-ganging strips him of autonomy, while Sally’s limited options-curse her “cruel stars” or “walk about in Wales”-reflect the constrained choices of the working poor. Hood’s reference to “old Benbow,” a historical naval figure, ties personal tragedy to national mythmaking, questioning the glory often ascribed to militarism12.
Hood balances pathos and levity to evoke a melancholic irony. Ben’s demise-triggered by a broken heart and a comically literal “blow”-resonates as both absurd and deeply human. His inability to sing “All’s Well” (a naval anthem) mirrors the poem’s rejection of facile optimism, suggesting that societal ills cannot be soothed by platitudes1213.
Philosophically, the poem grapples with existential absurdity. The protagonists’ lives are shaped by cosmic indifference (“cruel stars”) and institutional caprice, themes echoing Albert Camus’ later notions of the absurd. Yet Hood’s humor-such as the waterman’s quip about “Eye-water in the sea”-invites readers to confront despair through laughter, a coping mechanism for powerlessness14.
Comparatively, Faithless Sally Brown shares thematic DNA with Hood’s The Bridge of Sighs, which laments a suicide victim’s marginalization. Both poems blend social critique with poetic craftsmanship, though Sally Brown tempers its outrage with whimsy. Similarly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s The Cry of the Children and Charles Dickens’ depictions of industrial suffering resonate with Hood’s focus on systemic oppression21012.
Biographically, Hood’s struggles-financial instability, chronic illness-may have deepened his affinity for disenfranchised characters. His use of humor as both shield and weapon reflects a worldview shaped by resilience amid adversity3510. The poem’s linguistic exuberance, meanwhile, mirrors Hood’s reputation as a “finest English poet” of his era, bridging Romantic lyricism and Victorian social realism812.
Faithless Sally Brown endures as a testament to Hood’s ability to marry wit and wisdom. Through its deceptively simple narrative, the poem confronts the erosion of human dignity by institutional forces, all while celebrating language’s power to illuminate and defy. In an age where societal inequities persist, Hood’s ballad remains a poignant reminder of art’s capacity to bear witness-and to find meaning, however fleeting, in life’s turbulent seas.
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