"Edward"

     The very first thing I noticed while beginning to analyze "Edward" by an anonomynous author was the immediate repetition in the first stanza. The repetition is in every other line, and is probably the author's way of emphasizing those lines as opposed to the others. I also found it interesting how the poem was basically a conversation. The author was very clever in the way he went about doing that, with the quotations. I have never seen a poem written in that way, so I took interest in that. Other than those structural things, the rest of the poem confused me. He lied about killing his father at first, and then we he admitted it, his mother reacted by asking what he will give to her? I do not understand why! Edward seems sorry for murdering his father, but the mother is asking what he will do as penance. Then, it is implied that she just wants to know what she is going to get out of this. Once, Edward realizes this, he gets very angry with her and leaves her nothing.