A wondrous portal opened wide’. The Pied Piper up into the mountainside which can be seen as heaven from a magical perspective. This makes us realise that the Piper is doing this to save the children from the selfish villagers. When he saw that he was to receive nothing, he once again walked through all the town's streets with his pipe, as he had done before. This time a majority of the young children under eight or nine years, boys and girls, followed at his feet to the nearest mountain. Miraculously it opened up before them, and the stranger walked inside with the children. It immediately closed again, and neither the man nor the children were ever seen again. The following year came with a horde of mice, as though they had rained down from heaven. Plagued anew, the peasants penitently prayed once again and sorrowfully passed through their fields. When the procession reached the lake a little dwarf suddenly appeared in their midst. Personification: It is the attribution of human qualities to non-human entities. An example of personification can be found in line 47: “Anything like the sound of a rat / Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!” The sound of a rat is given the human quality of being able to cause fear. Source (books.google.com): Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg, "Mäuse in Glurns," Deutsche Alpensagen (Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1861), no. 246, p. 239.

Finally he set forth out of the town, blowing his horn. The vermin followed him until he came to a pond. He waded in as far as he could, and they swam after him. Finally he stopped blowing his horn, and all the swimmers sank. One of Browning’s longest poem, it tells of a story of the town of Hamelin that was over run with rats (if you don’t want the plot to the poem, skip this paragraph). The Pied Piper comes to Hamelin and tells the Mayor that he will get rid of the rats for ‘a thousand guilders’. The Mayor agrees and with the help of his flute and magic, the Pied Piper leads the rats down to the river where they all drown. The town of Hamelin are delightful and spend their money drinking to this victory. They forget to pay the Pied Piper for his work leaving the Pied Piper in a revengeful mood. He lures, just like he did with the rats, the children of the town to the top of a mountain where they miraculously disappear. From this story, the moral of the story is to keep to your promise, just like the town of Hamelin never did.

Summary of The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The poem subtly makes a comment on economics and politics in this way. First, the use of the word "Corporation" makes the poem more updated than the classic tale. The suggestion is that a population is ruled not only by its government (personified by the Mayor) but also its economic systems (represented by the Corporation). In the poem, these entities do not control the population through deceit but rather with the support of the population. The people in this poem are content to stay quiet until their safety is explicitly threatened, at which point they make demands of the Mayor and Corporation. Considering that Browning lived in an age of European revolutions, it is an interesting element that seeps in and makes the poem contemporary to his Victorian period. The said Town of Hamelen was annoyed with Rats and Mice; and it chanc'd, that a Pied-coated Piper came thither, who covenanted with the chief Burgers for such a reward, if he could free them quite from the said Vermin, nor would he demand it, till a twelve-month, and a day after: The agreement being made, he began to play on his Pipes, and all the Rats, and the Mice followed him to a great Lough hard by, where they all perish'd; so the Town was infected no more. ALDERMAN, N. AN INGENIOUS CRIMINAL WHO COVERS HIS SECRET THIEVING WITH A PRETENCE OF OPEN MARAUDING. Pearsall, "Robert Browning," New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, volume 3 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969).

Browning personifies the pipe, ‘ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered’, creating an idea of magic.

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Consonance: It is the repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to each other in a sentence or line of poetry. An example of consonance is in line 23: “‘Tis clear, cried they, our Mayor’s a noddy” where the repeated “d” sound creates a consonant effect. While “The Pied Piper” differs from most of Browning’s adult poetry, much of its charm and delight derive from the same poetic tools that Browning deployed in his more serious work. However, techniques that are praised in “The Pied Piper” are frequently perceived as defects in the adult poems. Victorian critics disliked his predilection for outrageous (and sometimes unpronounceable) rhymes and the excessive use of single rhymes, as in the vivid account of the rat infestation that opens “The Pied Piper”: Alliteration: It is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in proximity. An example of alliteration can be found in line 15, showing the sound of /s/ in “Split open the kegs of salted sprats” or /p/ in “pit-a-pat” in line 48. Hamelin, having suffered a great tragedy in losing all its children, tried to send word to the Piper that they would pay his fee, but to no avail. They made laws to commemorate the memories of the children and have rebuilt since then. The speaker adds a note that there is a "tribe of alien people" in Transylvania whose legends tell how their forbearers once rose "out of some subterranean prison," though nobody in the tribe understands the meaning of the legend.

Source (Internet Archive): Rudolf von Freisauff von Neudegg, "Der Spielmann," Salzburger Volkssagen (Vienna, Pest, and Leipzig: A. Hartleben's Verlag, 1880), p. 329. Thus did a girl who had followed them afar report to her parents, and thereupon diligent search and inquiry was soon made over land and water to find out whether the children had possibly been stolen and led away. But nobody could tell what had become of the children. This grieved the parents terribly, and is a fearful example of divine anger against sin.Source (books.google.com): Nathaniel Wanley, The Wonders of the Little World; or, A General History of Man (London: Printed for T. Basset, 1678), p. 598. Forrest D. Burt, "Browning's 'Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child's Story' and 'The Cardinal and His Dog': Considering the Poet's Early Interest in Drama and Art," Studies in Browning and His Circle, 16 (1988): 30-41. Diction: Diction refers to the writer’s choice of words and phrases. In “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” Browning uses language that is vivid, descriptive, and playful. For example, in line 9, he uses the word “vermin” to describe the rats, and in line 11, he uses the word “killed” to emphasize the severity of the rats’ actions.

At Hammel in Saxony, An. 1284. 20. Junii, the Devil in likeness of a pied Piper, carried away 130 Children, that were never after seen. Great rats, small rats, lean rats…’ The use of a list makes it sound like a lot of rats. From this, it is clear the magic the Pied Piper is using is extremely powerful. Besides introducing the world to “The Pied Piper” and establishing the poet’s modus operandi for his future verse, Dramatic Lyricsalso had a lasting effect on Browning’s personal life. Elizabeth Barrett admired the book, and in her 1844 poem “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship” she expressed the esteem in which she held Browning by linking him to William Wordsworth and Alfred, Lord Tennyson as one of the great poets of the age. She met Browning and the two poets fell deeply in love, but Elizabeth’s father, Edward Moulton Barrett, would not countenance any of his children marrying and leaving the home. On September 12, 1846 they were secretly married, and one week later they eloped to the Continent.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Agreement being made, he befan to play on his Pipes, and all the Rats and Mice followed him to a great Lough hard by, where they all perished; so the Town was infected no more. The Pied Piper of Hamelin -- Hervé Riel -- Cavalier tunes -- "How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix" -- Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr - Incident of the French camp -- Clive -- Muléykeh -- Tray -- A tale -- Gold hair -- Donald -- The glove.