“The May Queen”
Pa was at the table. He looked up and laughed at her. ‘Well, Flutterbudget! you’re to be Queen of the May, are you? And late to breakfast!’ — The Long Winter, Chapter 31, “Waiting for the Train”
The May Queen is a poem in three parts, written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). The first two parts (“The May Queen” and “New Year’s Eve”) were published in 1832; the conclusion added in 1842. The exact verse quoted by Laura — “If you’re waking call me early, Call me early, mother dear” is from the second part, while Pa’s comment seems to refer to the first part: “For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.”
In Little Town on the Prairie, Laura receives a copy of Tennyson’s poems as a Christmas gift. Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott and Other Poems was first published in 1833 and included both “The Lotus-Eaters” (which Wilder quotes) and the original two parts of “The May Queen.”
Music for “The May Queen” was written as a cantata in three parts by William Richardson Dempster and published by Oliver Ditson in 1845. The first part represents the May Queen full of joyousness and hope on the eve of May Day.
William Richardson Demptser (1809-1871) was born in Scotland and died in London, although he came to America as a child and became a naturalized citizen as an adult. He was apprenticed to a quill maker in America but left the trade to devote his time to music. A noted singer, Dempster set many of Tennyson’s poems to music.
You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow ‘ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day;
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
There’s many a black, black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine;
There’s Margaret and Mary, there’s Kate and Caroline:
But none so fair as little Alice in all the land they say,
So I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake,
If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break:
But I must gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
As I came up the valley whom think ye should I see,
But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the hazel-tree?
He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave him yesterday,
But I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
He thought I was a ghost, mother, for I was all in white,
I ran by him without speaking, like a flash of light.
They call me cruel-hearted, but I care not what they say,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
They say he’s dying all for love, but that can never be:
They say his heart is breaking, mother what is that to me?
There’s many a bolder lad ‘ill woo me any summer day,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green,
And you’ll be there, too, mother, to see me made the Queen;
For the shepherd lads on every side ‘ill come from far away,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
The honeysuckle round the porch has wov’n its wavy bowers,
And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo-flowers;
And the wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow-grass,
And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass;
There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the live-long day,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
All the valley, mother, ‘ill be fresh and green and still,
And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill,
And the rivulet in the flowery dale ‘ill merrily glance and play,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
So you must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear,
To-morrow ‘ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year:
To-morrow ‘ill be of all the year the maddest merriest day,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.
NEW YEAR’S EVE (first verse) If you’re waking call me early, call me early, mother dear, For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year. It is the last New-year that I shall ever see, Then you may lay me low i’ the mould and think no more of me.
THE MAY QUEEN (from The Long Winter)
If you’re waking call me early, Call me early, mother dear.
Click on the above images to view a copy of sheet music of “The May Queen.”
“The May Queen” (TLW 31
“If you’re waking call me early, call me early, mother dear”
Queen of the May