Lord Randal Poetry Analysis
Lord Randal - Poetry Analysis“Lord Randal” is a somber literary ballad of murder and betrayal. The poem succeeds in creating a mood and intriguing readers through rhythm and arrangement of facts, rather than, the customary imagery. The anonymous author recounts this dramatic irony in the form of five questions and five answers each of which is followed by a refrain and are the outline for all quatrains. My wonder at the emotional impact yielded through such a casual structure, is the inducement behind this particular selection.
The first stanza describes a seemingly innocent action; Lord Randal returns home, conceivably wearied, after a long day of hunting. The rhyme scheme in this leading quatrain of a b c d sets the fabric to be followed throughout the entirety, as well as, the end-stopped lines and the cacophony employed to slow down the reading in the last sentence of each stanza. Although, some may argue that ‘wild’ (line 3) and ‘weary’ (line 4) foretell what is to come through their ambiguous connotations: wild implying beastly as well as mad, and weary denoting both physically and mentally weary; I believe the mood to be initially suggested in the second verse, making the first unique solely in attitude.
Lord Randal’s mother questioning where her son has dined is the opening to the coming strophe. The suspicion originates in Lord Randal’s response where he discloses having dined with his “true love” and emphasizes his, now excessive, fatigue. This redundancy evokes suspicion in the reader and his mother. The simple refrain becomes an effectual dramatic device as its denotation increases...
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