The ballad presents himself with a title that doesn’t reveal much about the content of the poem. The only conjecture the reader can make is that the ravens will be the subjects of the poem.

The test is a ballad and displays a regular layout composed by ten stanzas of two lines.

Even if some lines are written in third person, the ballad is primarily written from the point of view of the ravens which even dialogue.

The ballad starts introducing the characters of three ravens on a tree searching for something to eat. As matter of fact, the first two lines have the function to move the point of view from the external narrator to the crows.

The attention of the crows slides on a slain knight full of hounds. However, the ravens notice that there are many hawks and dogs defending the cavalier, thus the died knight is impossible to reach because of the protecting animals that are guarding the prey.

The ravens realize is arriving another shape, coming to the defunct body. It’s a girl who reaches the body and carries him until she buries the knight.

The ravens had not eaten, nonetheless, the ballad ends telling that everyone deserves such lady and such guards. The speaking voice appeals to God because he hopes this for everyone.

In this ballad is very important the phonological aspect, because the phonological devices help the poem to acquire rhythm. However, in this specifical case, there aren’t many repetitions, even thanks to the brevity of the song. There are also many rhymes and assonances.

The employ of the animals as narrators helps giving naturality to the story.

The topics of the poems are religion, indeed God and after-death are quoted, and exactly naturality: the main characters are animals which represent a human quality (dogs – loyalty, …).