ANALYSIS - The Wife of Usher's Well

Starting considering the title, the reader understands that the text will talk about a woman, who is moreover married.

The ballad is composed by 12 stanzas which are quatrains.

The first stanzas introduce the plot of the poem: a mother sends her three sons away beyond the sea. However, after a couple of weeks the woman comes to know that her sons have died, even if they were brave and stout.

From the first lines, the reader knows the social status of the woman, indeed she’s wealthy.

Furthermore, in the first three stanza, the intelligent reader may notice the frequent repetitions of the sound /w, the alliteration’s device helps the ballad in being memorized and speeds the rhythm of the stanzas, too.

An additive example for repetition is between the second and the third quatrain; the reader will meet other instances of repetition while reading the text.

The fourth stanza is in a dialogue form. The wife wishes the sons come home to her, in earthly flesh and flood: the reader understands the mother’s love for her died children.

In the two following quatrains, the composer refers to the birch which is a wood that was believed to grow in Paradise. The text says that, according to the wife, during the night of Saint Martin the sons will be back.

Between stanzas 7^th and 9^th, the text tells about the mother who prepares the home for the sons and waits for them. She has been able to see them, using an hallucination, and passes the night with them. Anyway, the following morning, at the cock crow, the sons have to go.

There is a repetition of red in the 33^rd line, which has the function to make up for the lack of syllable.

In the 10^th quatrain, the cock actions and the fact that the sons have to go are repeated.

In stanzas 11^th and 12^th, the sons talk to the mother, thanking her for her love and hospitality.

This ballad perfectly mirrors the main characteristics and traits of a typical ballad, since there are many repetitions and a fluent rhythm. Moreover some of the most famous themes are discussed in this text, such as the medieval conception of death and the family.