Page 1 :
Then a dying man’s wife sent for him. The old priest began, to complain that he had no rest. Later he realized that 1t, Was a mistake to complain against God. So he asked God’s, forgiveness. He knelt and prayed, but soon fell asleep, leaning on the chair., , The next morning he woke up earlyand reached the, sick man’s house. The sick man’s wife was wonder-struck, to see the priest come again. She told him that after he, had gone away, her husband died. On hearing these words,, the old priest understood that God had sent one of his, angels to perform his duty. He was grateful to God for, being kind and merciful to him., , The poem is narrative in form. It begins suddenly,, without any prelude. It is typical of a traditional folk ballad., It is also dramatic with action and dialogue. It has twelve, quatrains (4'line stanzas) with lines alternating between, four stresses and three stresses. The second and fourth, lines rhyme. The rhythm is heavily iambic. The title is, surely justified. The poet has used figures of speech like, ‘alliteration’, assonance’, ‘simile’, and ‘personification’., Examples for alliteration are ‘the old priest Peter Gilligan’,, ‘no rest nor joy nor peace’, and ‘mavrone mavrone the, man has died’. Examples for assonance are ‘no rest, nor, joy nor peace’, die and die’, and ‘moths came once more’., An examples for simile is ‘as merry as a bird’. We see, personification, when the poet tells, ‘stars began to peep’., As a whole the poem is an excellent work.