Stanza 1

Home they brought her warrior dead:

She nor swooned, nor uttered cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
She must weep or she will die.
The speaker describes the reaction of a woman when her dead husband was brought back to
her. Her grief is so overwhelming, she cannot even cry. She didnt faint or swoon or make
even a noise. Her friends watched her, and they became worried about her because she
seemed not to grieve properly. They thought she might die if she did not weep as she should.
They believed that if this woman did not grieve, the pain she refused to let out would
eventually kill her.

Stanza 2
Then they praised him, soft and low,
Called him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.
As in many instances of death, the people around the dead man praised him. They talked
about his life, about the good that he did. They called him worthy to be loved and they
talked about the kind of friend he was to them. They called him true and noble. Yet, as
the people around her grieved and spoke memories, the wife of the dead man could not speak
nor move. She remained still. No one knew what was going on in her mind, but she seemed
to be in a state of shock. No amount of reminiscence seemed to bring tears to the widows
eyes. She was yet unmoved. Perhaps she was unable to accept the death, even as those around
her spoke of him and paid tribute to his memory. The people around her are not sure why the
woman refuses to show emotion, but they surround her with words of praise for her husband,
hoping to break her out of her shock so that they might be there to comfort her.

Stanza 3
Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor wept.
Because the woman still refuses to grieve, one of the young women present walks up to the
dead man, and removes the cloth that was covering his face. Perhaps she thought that his wife
was unable to grieve because she still could not believe or accept that this dead man was her
husband. The people around the widow clearly believe that the woman ought to grieve. Thus,
because she will not show any signs of grief when the people speak of him, this particular

friend shows her the face of her late husband, hoping that this will help the woman to break
out of her state of shock and be able to grieve properly.

Stanza 4
Rose a nurse of ninety years,
Set his child upon her knee
Like summer tempest came her tears
Sweet my child, I live for thee.
With this stanza, the speaker finally reveals to the readers the reason for the widows silence.
She has not been unfeeling or careless of her husbands death. She has not even been in shock
or disbelief like the people around her thought. Rather, she has been paralyzed with fear. She
did not think about her own pain at losing her husband. Rather, she thought of the poor child.
It was not until she saw the childs nurse sit the child upon her knee that she burst forth in
uncontrollable tears that came like a summer tempest. She cried out, Sweet my child, I
live for thee.
This poem truly reveals the heart of a mother. When the dead warrior was brought home, the
people expected her to behave as they would expect a widow to behave. But the widow was
also a mother, and her mothering instincts led her to think of of the child before she could
think of herself. While she looked at the dead man before her, she was not in shock or
disbelief. She was not unmoved or unfeeling. She was struck with fear for her child who
would grow up fatherless. The widow turned to see her child, and cried out her promise that
she would take care of the child and live for the child. It was at that moment that the widow
was able to grieve for her own loss. Once she had determined herself to live for her child and
to shield and protect the child even though the child no longer had a father, then she was able
to think about her own loss and let out her grief in tears.