Summary
Most versions of "Barbara Allen" can be summarised thus: a young man is dying of unrequited love for Barbara Allen; she is called to his deathbed but all she can say is, 'Young man, I think you're dying.' When he dies, she is stricken with grief and dies soon after. Often, a briar grows from her grave and a rose from his, until they grow together.
Not surprisingly, given that this is a ballad of unknown age and origin, largely passed down orally, the details of the story vary significantly in different printed and recorded versions. The setting is usually in the fictitious 'Scarlet Town'. This may be a punning reference to Reading, (pronounced "redding"), as a slip-song version c. 1790 among the Madden songs at Cambridge University Library has 'In Reading town, where I was bound.' London town and Dublin town are used in some versions. The action usually takes place "in the merry month of May" although some versions place it in the autumn. The young man who dies of a broken heart is usually called Sweet William or some slight variant such as young Willie Grove or sweet Willie Graeme. In other versions the name is Sir John Graeme. The version printed below calls him Jemmye Grove. Some longer versions of the ballad explain Barbara's "cruelty" by saying that she (mistakenly) believed that the young man slighted her first.
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