Question

Why does the poet use repetition in the poem?

Answer 1

The poet uses repetition as at the end each verse he repeats the ironic saying:“But ‘twas a famous victory.” Old Kasper continuously repeats this sentence as this is all he knows about the war. Although it is constantly mentioned that it was a great victory this is not i     what the poem is saying. Southey is using this phrase to emphasise the exact opposite, that it wasn’t a great victory. It is one of Southey’s most famous poems. The internal repetition of but ’twas a famous victory juxtaposed with the initial five lines of each stanza, establish that the narrator does not know why the battle was fought, why thousands died, why his father’s cottage was burned. The often-quoted closing lines are:

“But what good came of it at last?”
Quoth little Peterkin.
“Why that I cannot tell,” said he,
“But ’twas a famous victory.”