Questions for Group Discussion and Journal
- Like all ballads, this one tells a story. Briefly what is the story presented in this traditional Scottish ballad?
- Does the fact that the king in line one likes to drink "blood-red" wine suggest something about him? Does it foreshadow something that will happen later in the poem?
- How would you describe Sir Patrick's character? Why, for example, does he move rapidly from laughter to tears in the fourth stanza?
- Why does Sir Patrick Spence goes on the trip even after he knows it is a death-mission?
- contrasts & ironies
- How is the "eldern knicht" (elder knight) contrasted with Sir Patrick Spence? (What do they each do? Where are they?) Why do the Scotish nobles go along with him? What details can you find in the poem that suggest the poet was critical of the lives of the nobles?
- A contrast is set respectively in stanza eight and stanza nine (between the first two lines and the last two). What kind of contrasts are they? (e.g. the sea and the play, the ladies with fans in their hand and Patrick Spence at sea).
- omission in ballad form
- As you look at the story in this ballad, it is interesting to notice the parts of the story that the poet left out. What parts are not included in the poem? Why do you think the poet chose to leave them out? Also, what parts of the story did the poet develop in detail?
