Appreciation of The Inchcape Rock.

Write a poetic appreciation of the poem 2.3 ‘The  Inchcape Rock’ with the help of the following points.

·       About the poem / poet and the title

·       The theme

·       Poetic Style

·       Language /Poetic devices

·       Special features

·       Message, values, morals in the poem

·       Your opinions about the poem

                               
‘The Inchcape Rock’ a ballad is written by Robert Southey. He was a poet Laureate of England. ‘The Inchcape Rock’ is a very popular poem with the school children. It is about attempt by the Abbot of Aberbrothok to install a warning on Inchcape and removal by a pirate, Ralph. The pirate met with an accident on the same rock in his return journey.

The poem is in the form of ballad. It tells a story. The poem is dramatic and narrative. There are seventeen stanzas of four lines each. The poem follows the rhyme scheme aabb.

The poet Robert Southey has used vivid words. It creates mental pictures. The poem seems to be live pictures. Some words are repeated and create soothing effect. The poem is enriched with poetic devices such as alliteration, repetition, inversion, onomatopoeia, metaphor, personification, simile and apostrophe.

The poem gives us a message that those who do wrong things will meet with due punishment.