The Pied Piper of Hamlin- Lines 135- 200

Browning cleverly uses story telling techniques in 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin' such as not telling us the narrator til the end. It is written in third person but throughout the poem we are unaware of who the real narrator is as it is swapped between characters such as the Mayor, the Pied Piper and also the rats. This creates an unbiased account of the story so allows the reader to make their up their own opinion to who they believe is the right or the wrong. Personification is used to personify the rats such as 'Oh rat's, rejoice!' This means that the reader finds it easier to relate with the character. This also gives a comical twist as it's unexpected to hear the rats point of view.
The attitude of the poem dramatically changes from happiness that their town is saved to anger from the Pied Piper that the Mayor made a promise to pay him a 'thousand guilders' but he thinks that he has out smarted the Pied Piper because he has already saved the town and he can't bring the rats back to life so he doesn't pay him. The Pied Piper see's this as betrayal and seeks revenge on the town. He does this by killing the children in the town. 'Small feet were pattering.' This changes the tone of the poem into one that is dark as we start to understand his intentions of killing the innocent children for the Mayor's mistake.
The poem is written as if it is almost a fable and gives the reader a moral at the end of the poem. It is also told as a tale of the town that haunts it. The tale sounds well practiced was 'five hundred years ago' that the story begins.
Internal rhyme is used in the lines 139, 'So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon.' This is used by the rat to describe how the rats will live on! However no specific rhyme pattern is used through the poem.
The poem splits the readers into taking sides. One reader may feel sorry for the Pied Piper because he tried to help the town and in return they betrayed him but on the other hand, the reader may hate him because he exaggerated the betrayal and ended up killing lots of innocent lives instead of killing the man that was actually accountable.