Charlotte Dymond: Short Analysis Of a World Renown Ballad

The Ballad Of Charlotte Dymond is a well-created poem that had been based on the legend of Charlotte Dymond, who had been given popularity and notoriety after the poet Charles Causley had gained attention on his different ballads and poems.

Charlotte Dymond was a domestic servant working on the farm at the edge of Bodmin Moor and was 18 years old before the ballad’s storyline had occurred. The story describes the murder between the male of two lovers, Mathew Weeks where the female, Charlotte Dymond had died against her will. This event could have occurred because Charlotte had been in love with someone else, as seen in stanza 18, verse 4, meaning that Matthew could have envy in him, causing him to kill the one he loved.

Matthew had also been said to kill Charlotte, because, in stanza 7 – 10, Matthew had been described to be showing signs of guilt. Sound devices had also helped, such as the example in stanza 10 verse 4 “Wipe the sour sweat away?”, with the words “sour” & “sweat” both when combined, created an example of alliteration, which helps the readers keep a steady beat to maintain and emphasize on the word “sweat”.

In stanza 15, “As Matthew turned at Plymouth About the tilting Hoe, The cold and cunning Constable Up to him did go: ” This stanza represents how Matthew had tried to flee from his committed crime, indicating how he had murdered Charlotte. This may be evidence of a biased text, as the poet had sided with the claim about how Matthew had been the one to kill Charlotte. Carrying on as the ballad extended how Matthew had been the guilty one.

Finally, from Stanza 20 – 22, both lovers, Charlotte Dymond and Matthew had both ended with the death of themselves, with Charlotte getting murdered against her will, and Matthew killed in prison against his will. These were both similar occurrences, both with the same intentional actions to kill the victim, which relates to the 20th stanza, as the murderer had been given what he deserved, being punished with death.

In conclusion, Charlotte Dymond is a gruesome story, that has a plot describing how a couple who had not yet experienced the meanings behind love. This is featured through figurative language such as the assonance in stanza 14, verse 2 “Her throat was made of flame”, which is used to emphasize how the flame had altered Charlotte’s throat. By using these kinds of sound devices, the ballad is able to divert the readers to what they are meant to read and infer over.