Away the MARE

Insights

Banishment of Melancholy

The 'mare' symbolizes melancholy, sorrow, or worries. The phrase is an exhortation to cast off sadness and embrace a cheerful, carefree attitude.

Dismissal of Cares

It serves as a verbal shrug to dismiss troubles, anxieties, or burdensome thoughts, akin to saying 'let it go' or 'never mind that'.

Carefree Abandon

The expression encapsulates a spirit of joyous and wilful abandon, a decision to stop worrying and live in the moment with happiness.

Folkloric Roots

The proverb is likely a contraction of 'away the nightmare'. In folklore, the 'night-mare' was a malevolent entity (a 'mara') believed to cause bad dreams and a sense of suffocation. The phrase thus functions as a charm or exclamation to banish this spirit, and by extension, to drive away anxiety, melancholy, and sorrow.

Psychological Command

The phrase acts as a form of psychological self-regulation, a conscious command to dismiss negative thoughts and embrace cheerfulness. Its use in the provided 16th-century quotations alongside exhortations to 'be merry' shows it was a spoken tool for actively shifting one's emotional state.

Cultural Expression of Merriment

Common in early 16th-century popular poetry and drama, this expression reflects a cultural tendency towards vivid, earthy, and slightly boisterous idioms. It captures a spirit of communal merry-making and a pragmatic approach to overcoming gloom.

Rhetorical Devices

Idiom

The phrase is a classic idiom where the 'mare' is not a literal animal but a symbol for sorrow, making its meaning non-literal and culturally specific.

Exclamation

Used as an interjection, often with imperative force, to command a change in mood. Its structure is punchy and memorable.

Archaism

The grammatical structure ('Away the mare' instead of 'Away with the mare') is archaic, rooting the expression firmly in its historical period and enhancing its folkloric quality.