Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 103-108
"We two," she said, "will seek the groves
Where the lady Mary is,
With her five handmaidens, whose names
Are five sweet symphonies,
Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,
Margaret, and Rosalys."
- The damsel seems to answer her fretting fellow here, suggesting that they'll go together to visit "the lady Mary," the mother of Jesus.
- Apparently, Mary has five women who attend her ("handmaidens") whose names are described metaphorically as "symphonies" (106). We'll let you make your own judgments on that.
- We wonder how these ladies might help…