The object of the present work is to discuss and analyse a ballad called “The Wife of Usher’s Well”.

Just considering the title, the intelligent reader can understand that the woman’s social status, she is a  “Wife”. Considering the layout, the text is arranged into 12 stanzas, each stanza has got 4 lines; so they are quatrains.

The ballad starts with the first stanza, it has the function to introduce the story. There is a wife who lives at Usher’s Well and she is a wealthy wife. She has three sons who she sent over the sea. The information we get from the first stanza about the woman are: her social status, her residence and her economic position.

In the first quatrain the reader can also see the repetition of the word “Wife”. 

In the second line the subject is placed at the end in a key position so maybe the poet wants to focus the reader’s attention on it. In so doing, the protagonist of the story appears important.

From the point of view of figure of speech there is an alliteration of the sound “w”and of the sound “st”.

The function of the second stanza  is to inform the reader about the death of the three sons. The mother learned of what happened from someone. 

In this stanza there is the repetition of the word “week” and the alliteration of the sound “w” that reveals the pain felt by the mother.

The third stanza is practically the same as the second; except the last line. In this way. In doing so, the narrator wants to underline the event of the death of the three sons and the mother’s suffering. The choice to change the last line increases this pain, the poet also uses an absolute negation “never” to increase the suffering. 

In the fourth stanza the poet introduces a direct speech (inverted commas). The mother is speaking and che expresses her wish (suggested by the subjunctive), that her children come back so that she can see them once more. The last line is full of meaning: the mother wishes to see her sons alive. Once again all her pain comes out.

Regarding the fifth stanza, its function is to introduce the theme of the resurrection of the three sons. The poet tells us that in the time of S. Martino they come back home. The last line is a metaphor, using to say that the three sons are dead. The sixth stanza reclaims the word “birk” from the previous line, to which it refers with the personal pronoun “it”. However, it is still the mother who speaks and the poet uses again a metaphor because when he talks about the birk, he is actually referring to the sons.

In the seventh stanza the mother orders, in an imperative tone, the maidens to blow up the fire and to bring water from the well. She is engaged in preparations, because she is convinced that her three children will return home that night. However, we know that this is not possible.

In the eighth stanza the woman prepares a bed for her sons. The function is to make the reader understand the time. In the last line the eldest son speaks and he says that it is time to go away.

In the eleventh stanza a son speaks. It is morning. In the second line there is a relevant word "worm" which means "verme". It creates a horrible scene.

In conclusion, in this ballad the themes are tragic death, the supernatural, medieval religion or the relationship between a mother and her sons.