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Song About Life in Virginia - The American Yawp Reader
Song About Life in Virginia - The American Yawp Reader
Some English men and women understood the New World to be a place of opportunity, where they
could create new lives. More common, however, was the belief that the New World was a place of
great danger and suffering. This song was written from the perspective of a young girl who was sent
to Virginia against her will, where she faced a life of hunger and never-ending work.
So soon as it is day,
In misery I spend
All by my ill-fare,
But if it be my chance,
Homewards to advance,
The Trappan’d Maiden: Or the Distressed Damsel. Broadside 1689-1703 EBBA 21947 (Samuel
Pepys Library, Magdalene College) 4.286.
Available through the English Ballad Broadside Archive, University of California at Santa Barbara