Ex 1
a)The ballad is set at Lord Randal's house, even if he tells his mother what happened in the wood. The characters are Lord Randal, his mother and his true-love.
b)Lord Randal has been poisoned by his true-love just in a metaphoric sense: he was not truly poisoned.


Ex 2
The rhyme scheme of Lord Randal is "ABAC", along the whole the ballad incremental repetition is used. We can find some alliterations in the last lines of the first five stanzas: "For I'm wearied wi' hunting and fain wad lie down" (sound "w"). Each line counts ten stresses.


Ex 3
The ballad is very simple and easy to memorize. This is a consequence of its oral tradition. The narration is built up using dialogue. The language is used differently by mother and son: while the mother shows particular affection to her son, Lord Randal shows authoritarian attitude, which demonstrates that at that time men were considered superior to the women.