“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” by Mother Goose: A Formalist Analysis

by Hero Balba

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

by Mother Goose

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

“ Hey baby, I’ll be teaching you a song so special to me. I know you’ll like it. My mom
has taught me to sing it for her too! “

These were the sweet words of my beloved mother that sound echo to my ear. A song
so simple yet, so inspiring. A song everyone has learned to love. A song everyone here
has sung…and that’s “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep!”

The nursery song has been written by Mother Goose, a famous imaginary author of
French fairy tales and many other nursery rhymes and to date, is considered one of the
well-known nursery rhymes of English literature.

One way to analyze it is the use of the formalist approach that will focus mainly on the
understanding of the different elements of poetry.

According to Wallace Field, Formalist literary criticism focuses on the text as the
major artifact worthy of study rather than, say, the author him or herself, the
historical time period during which the text was written, how the text responds to
gender roles or class concerns during the period, or anything else that exists outside
of the text's world itself.
Let’s consider the poem’s point of view in the eyes of the speaker. The conversation is
in the perspective of a child who asks a question to a black sheep.

In the nursery rhyme, the innocent child inquires if the sheep has some wool. The sheep
replies that she has three bags. Out of those three, one will go to the master, one is for
the dame, and the final bag is for the little boy who lives down the lane.

The poem centers on the sheep, and it highlights the importance of sheep and the
woolen clothing in the 16th century. Until the late 16th century, the wool trade was a
flourished business, and there was a high demand for wool. Therefore, everyone who
had land prefers to raise a flock of sheep to gain wealth. In this way, the reply of the
sheep is symbolic that her all wool is already set to go.

Various literary devices are used in “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” to convey the themes,
their emotions, feelings, and ideas to the readers. The analysis of some of the literary
devices used in this poem has been given below.

The presence of rhetorical devices adds zest and style to make the poem very
interesting. It has assonance from the line “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, take note of the
resemblance of vowel sounds’ /aa/.

Alliteration makes its presence felt with the repetition of the initial consonant sounds
such as the sound of /b/ in “Baa, baa, black sheep” and the sounds of /y/ and /s/ in “Yes
sir, yes sir, three bags full”.

There’s also an evident of the repetition of words, owing it to Anaphora. It refers to the
repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. You would notice that
‘And one for the’ is repeated in lines sixth and seventh to emphasize the fraction of wool
being distributed.

Talking about sound, Onomatopoeia has played also a role in this piece of poetry. It
refers to the words which imitate the natural sounds of the things. The poet has used
the sound of ‘baa’ in the first line of the poem.

The nursery rhyme boasted also with the presence of imagery. Imagery is used to make
readers perceive things involving their five senses. These lines have given the readers
clear perceptions of what’s going on- , “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full”; “And one for the
little boy” and “Who lives down the lane”.
Another literary device that can be found in the poem is the use of Symbolism.
Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic
meanings that are different from the literal meanings. Notice the use of the word “wool”,
which is the symbol of trade.

The use of personification in the poem making it the lone figures of speech, has made
the work of art truly admirable. As we know, Personification is to give human qualities to
inanimate objects. In the poem, sheep is personified when it replies to the boy’s
question as if the sheep is human and can speak.

Talking about poetic device, it will be noted that he poem has used devices in this
rhyme such as stanza, septet and rhyme scheme.

 Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There is only one stanza
comprises of seven lines.
 Septet: A septet is a stanza with seven lines or verses. The poem comprises only
one septet.
 Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows ABBCDED rhyme scheme.

“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” might be a short poem but it has made a big impact in the
lives of many. Growing up as kid, many have learned the song and have appreciated its
beauty. This masterpiece has taught phonics to many children and have helped them
improve their pronunciation at a younger age.

Now, wondering why I smiled like this? Yeah, I remember my favorite lines of the poem.

“Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.”