Concetti Chiave
- The Ballad of Reading Gaol is structured in six-verse stanzas with a regular rhyme scheme of A/B/C/B/D/B, emphasizing its melodic and rhythmic quality.
- The poem utilizes sound devices such as alliteration and assonance to enhance its lyrical flow and emotional depth.
- The poem portrays the harsh reality of prison life, depicting it as a place devoid of human compassion and filled with hardship.
- The narrative suggests that every person is capable of harming what they love, symbolizing a universal human condition.
- In contrast to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Ballad lacks supernatural elements, focusing instead on the grim fate of its characters.
Caratteristiche principali della ballata
The main characteristics of the Ballad are:
- It is written in six-verse stanzas which make a regular stanza.
- It is full of repetitions;
- It tells a dramatic story in verse.
The rhyme scheme is A/B/C/B/D/B.
Alliterations:
- Verse 5: woman whom
- Verse 20: within another
- Verse 21: was wondering
- Verse 23: when whispered
- Verse 28: casque of scorching
- Verse 34: with wistful
Assonances:
Verse 9-10: A … cap was … head, and … step … and gay
Verse 49: some love too … some too long
Descrizione del Murderers’ Hole
It is described as a Murderers’ Hole where Human pity is not a word of grace. In such a place it could have helped the prisoners’ souls.
They show the reality of life in prison which is not easy at all. They have to toil for their daily bread. Their actions convey to the reader the idea of a very difficult life where people are obliged to work very hard and no one cares if they suffer.
He is a symbol of every man, since every man kills the things he loves, like he did.
Differences: there are no supernatural events. While the Mariner is the only one who doesn’t die, the Man is the only one who ends up hanged.
Similarities: the crowd’s souls are afraid and suffer like the prisoners’ souls. Their doom is in the ends of someone else.
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