A Red, Red Rose: Form and Structure

“A Red, Red Rose: Form and Structure” - Overview

Form and Composition:

• “A Red, Red Rose” is a traditional Scottish ballad, which has a simple narrative style, making it straightforward and easy to understand.
• The poem is composed of four quatrains, stanzas of four lines each. This compact form gives the poem its concise, direct manner.

Rhythm and Rhyme:

• It has a regular ABBA rhyme scheme, creating a melodious and lyrical quality that adds to the charm of the poem.
• Each quatrain has a strong, regular rhythm, which helps to emphasise the enduring nature of the poem’s theme: unwavering, everlasting love.

Variation in the Narrative:

• The first two stanzas are concerned with similes for the speaker’s love, giving an emotional account of their feelings.
• The last two stanzas shift the focus to the speaker’s pledge of fidelity, lending a sense of resolution and commitment to the poem’s structure.

Structural Devices:

• Hyphenation in ‘Red, Red Rose’ becomes a structural device adding an emphasis on the depth and intensity of the speaker’s love.
• Repetition of the word ‘till’ in the last stanza underscores the speaker’s assertive promise of endless love.

Role of Punctuation:

• Exclamations are used in the poem to emphasise the intensity of the speaker’s feelings for their beloved.
• The commas in ‘my dear, my dear, my dear’, slow down the rhythm, creating a dramatic effect and emphasising the sincere and fervent profession of love.

Use of Scots Dialect:

• The ballad is written predominantly in English, with slight elements of the Scots dialect used intermittently. This contributes to the distinctive Scottish character and adds authenticity.