How Can I Keep My Maidenhead
How Can I Keep My Maidenhead - meaning Summary
Negotiating Sexual Economy
The poem presents a young woman weighing what to do about her virginity amid many suitors and offers. She reports men bidding for her, rejects selling herself for money like her mother did, and instead prefers to give herself to a "bonie lad" who will reciprocate. The final stanzas shift to a darker, weary tone: she imagines an old, worn maidenhead and the painful, repetitive work of sexual encounters. The voice mixes candid domestic speech with wry resignation, framing virginity as both a personal choice and a kind of social or economic burden.
Read Complete AnalysesHow can I keep my maidenhead, My maidenhead, my maidenhead; How can I keep my maidenhead, Among sae mony men, O. The Captain bad a guinea for't, A guinea for't, a guinea for't; The Captain bad a guinea for't, The Colonel he bad ten, O. But I'll do as my minnie did, My minnie did, my minnie did; But I'll do as my minnie did, For siller I'll hae nane, O. I'll gie it to a bonie lad, A bonie lad, a bonie lad; I'll gie it to a bonie lad, For just as gude again, O. An auld moulie maidenhead, A maidenhead, a maidenhead; An auld moulie maidenhead, The weary wark I ken, O. The stretchin' o't, the strivin' o't, The borin o't, the rivin' o't, And ay the double drivin o't, The farther ye gang ben, O.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.