Edward

Edward - Anonymous

This poem could be considered a ballad because it reveals the story of a son murdering his father. The poem is presented in a series of conversations between mother and son and in the end son blaming his mother for telling him to murder his father telling her "The curse of hell from me shall ye bear, Such counsels you gave to me, O," (Anonymous, 978). The author uses repetition to focus the reader on the "Mother, Mother" and "Edward, Edward" which are set apart by the repeated phrases. Finally, Edward says that he will leave on a ship away from his family in order to escape his impeding fate as a murderer or possibly to escape his mother.