"Edward" By:Anonymous

While reading this poem, I was unsure of what it was about at first. I believed that the central theme was death because at first, I thought Edward had killed all three of the things. Through discussion, I realized that this poem is a conversation between Edward and his mother and his mother is questioning him about his "sword" that "drip(s) with blood." He first says that he killed his hawk, but his mother calls him out on his lie. Next, he claims he killed his steer," but his mother also knows this is a lie. Finally Edward admits to killing his father. I found it odd that the mother was not upset or angry about her son killing her husband. Through this and discussion I came to the conclusion that Edward's mother knew that he was going to kill his father. She even went as far as to give him "counsels." I realized that the central theme of this poem was greed and death. The mother was greedy and wanted the money that she knew she would get from the death of her husband, but only if her son killed him. When she finds out that he killed her husband, she asks "what will ye leave to your children and wife." She knows that if Edward doesn't leave his wife and children anything she will get the money. This poem is centered around greed and death.