Composition

The form and content of poems are equally important analytical elements for the comprehension of lyrical texts. This is why we encourage you to pay attention to both the outer composition (stanzas, verses, graphical expression) and the inner composition (beginning, subdivision, course) of “The Song of the Spectators” by Mary Payne.

Outer composition

“The Song of the Spectators” is organised in eight stanzas out of which seven are quatrains (they have four lines), and the eighth represents a couplet (two lines stanza).

The quatrains follow the same rhyme scheme ABAB, also known as alternate rhyme. The alternate rhyme means the first line rhymes with the third line, while the second rhymes with the fourth, like in the following example:

We are the lookers-on; we can spectate
Street holes and accidents with equal love.
We have one rule: “Do not participate
But scan events from one remove.” (p. 22, ll. 1-4)

The end rhyme is not always perfect. For instance, in the above example, ‘love’ and ‘remove’ end with the same letters, but they are not pronounced quite the same. The lines are also rather long and quite explicit for a poem.

The last stanza represents a couplet (AA) because it is only formed of two lines which rhyme together:

But one day, with blank eyes, we will watch a bomb fall
That will eat its creators – good citizens all. (p. 23, ll. 26-27)

The poet also employs alliterations in the poem, meaning that the same letter...