This is an analysis of the poem The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill that begins with:

I took a contract to bury the body of blasphemous Bill MacKie,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he die--...

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: XabXccdd eeXXbbXa ffgghhaa iiddeegg ddjjbb XdXXgg ggkkXdjX ggbXiiee ddcXeebb llbbcc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,6,6,8,8,8,6,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110110100100100110 010010110100100111 1011001111100111 010111111101101 110101101110111 0101011011101111 1101011011100111 111011110111111101 1110101011011101 101010101100101111 111111110101001 111110101101110000 1110111101001001 1011101101100101 111001110110111100 111011110111101101 01011111110100101 0010101011100111 00101101011011111 1011010111100101 111001111011111001 011100101111111 111010111001110101 1110111011111101 11101001111010101 101110110110100111 1011111010010001 101001111100101 1011111011010101 1010100101110111 10100001011011101 1011111111110111 1010111011111001 11101001011111101 1111001010011101 10101101111100101 11010111101111 1101110111100101 101111011111100 1110111110010100101 1111011011010010 111111111101001000 11111001011001001 11100111101100111 111101011011101 110111101110101 1001101111001001 110101001100101 11011101010011110 111010111111110101 1111110101111001 011100100100111110 11101011010011001 0010101111011101 11101101011111001 1110110111111101110 0101001011110111 1111101111100111 111111101011010101 1110101000111100111 1111111111010110 011111111011101 1111110111111101 11001111111111010 1111111111111111 00101011110010101 11111010011111101 111101011111110101 11101101110010111 1111001111010111 111111110100100111 101110011010111 111110101010001 110101111111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 513
  • Average number of words per stanza: 103
  • Amount of lines: 74
  • Average number of symbols per line: 68 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 14
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; or, by, i, and, he, in, of, like, when, that, ice, his, on, at, you, him are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words so, of, when, ice, and are repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Robert William Service