The Pied Piper of Hamelin

'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning tells the classic story of The Pied Piper, but through verse.  With a clear rhyme scheme, the poem has a definite feel of a cautionary tale meant for the eyes of young children.  Another feature that gives this feel is the introduction, straight away the scene is set, almost in a 'Once upon a time...' kind of style:

'Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, 
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side' 

Straight away a location and theme is given to the poem, with a clear feel of a children's story being given from rhymes such as 'trap!' and 'hap', 'sat' and 'fat'. 

Browning also uses lots of imagery throughout, mainly linked with music such as 'in fifty different sharps and flats.'. This not only links to the pied piper's pipe, but also plants the idea of a children's nursery rhyme, in keeping with the style of the poem.

Although this may not be recognized by younger readers of the poem, Browning uses a lot of metaphors, the main one being that the rats signify the government.  Throughout the poem, the government are shown to be greedy and lazy, so when this is said about the rats:

'And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,'

you begin to question whether the it was the rats at all, and not the government stealing things from the people.  This is reaffirmed later in the poem when the government refuse to give the Pied Piper his money, it just goes to show how greedy the government characters in this poem are.

One of the main things that struck me about this poem in particular though, is how different it is to the rest of Browning's poems.  A large majority of his poems are dramatic monologues (for example Porphyria's Lover, My Last Duchess) however this one is written as if talking to someone named 'Willy'.  Moreover, it is very child friendly and is written as a cautionary tale, which none of his other poems are due to the slightly morbid story-lines of them.  It definitely sticks out from his other works as a very original poem.