Sir Patrick Spens Ballads are a type of poem which were composed for entertainment. This particular ballad, "Sir Patrick Spens" was composed around 700 years ago. Ballads never had tunes though you could think of one to help you remember the lyrics. Usually, ballads had a large amount of small verses. These also made it easier to remeber the lyrics.
In this ballad, "Sir Patrick Spens", there are fourteen beats in one verse. The first and the third lines in each verse, have four beats, though the second and fourth lines have only three beats.
In this ballad, "Sir Patrick Spens", and a lot of other ballads, the composer uses a Scots Dialect. This makes it hard to read, though certain words help you remember the lyrics.
This ballad contains a large amount of alliteration and ryhme. The second and fourth lines of each verse have both have three beats.
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In "Sir Patrick Spens", there is a large amount of courage in it. For example, Sir Patrick Spens risks his own life to bring back the Queens daughter to Scotland. Sir Patrick Spens also climbs the mast of the ship in the middle of a storm to seek land. A large amount of courage is therefore used.
In the ballad, there is a small amount of integrity used. In verse ten, the people of Noroway say that the Scots spend the King's money. Sir Patrick uses integrity and replies, "Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud!" He is being honest that he didn't spend that money.
Integrity is also used when the King sends Patrick Spens to do the job. He thinks Sir Spens is honest enough to do the job. So Patrick Spens gets sent.
In the ballad, Sir Patrick Spens has a good reputation in the ballad. He is thought to be honest and brave. He worked hard to get a good reputation and now he has got a good one.
The main sailor has a good reputation. He said there would be a bad storm and there was. He also helped Patrick Spens in his quest.
Sir Patrick's only weakness, was his wife or his girlfriend was at home. He couldn't see her and he would probably be quite worried. He also probably thought of her and missed her. Therefore, that might have been a big weakness to him.
In the ballad, Sir Patrick Spens was probably really well liked by others. He risks his own life when he went up the mast instead of sending a sailor up. He probably also helped them along the way in the whole adventure. Sir Patrick Spens was really liked.
After the adventure, Patrick Spens was probably glad and relieved. He hadn't lost his life and he was loved all over Scotland. The King was also probably relieved to see Patrick Spens. The King could have rewarded Sir Spens with money for completing the job.
Since the ballad is around 700 years old, it is not a great poem now, though when it was first told it was probably really popular with all the people.
As the poem goes on it gets more interesting and enjoyable though i didn't particularly like it much.
I think the poem would be easy to remember because of all the Scottish dialect, ryhme, rhythm and alliteration. though it could be hard because it is a long ballad.
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