“Little Billee” is one of the major of Thackeray’s poems that fill with deep-rooted emotions and hard reality.

The title plays a grand role because from its title “Little Billee” we can get to know that something would be happening with the billee.

When the poem first appears in the world it does not proceed with success but later it gets the attention of the readers.

Summary of  Little Billeev

In the first stanza, the poet describes a voyage where three sailors launched their boat on the sea from Bristol city. They take pork pickles, biscuits, and beef along with them.

“There was gorging Jack, and guzzling Jimmy,
And the youngster he was little Bille;”

So, the three sailors are Jack, Jimmy, and little Billee. It seems that Billee is the youngest among them all. Now they have gone far from the equator and they do not have anything left except ‘split pea’.

The poem is progressing like a story where things are happening in a sequence. Now gorging Jack is asking guzzling Jimmy if he becomes very hungry and he wants to have food. In the answer, Jimmy says,

“We ‘ve nothing left, us must eat we.”

Then Jack tells Jimmy that whatever is going to happen would have been acquainted with the world. As Billee is younger and more tender than them they need to eat him up.

“We’re old and tough, so let’s eat he,
O Billy! we’re going to kill and eat you,”

So, they announced that they are going to kill little Billy as he is younger. Now he uses his pocket handkerchief when he gets to know the fact that he is going to be killed.

Then Billy takes a reference to Catechism that his mother taught him. Maybe he is also not very sure whether he will be survived or not though he tried to get up from the situation. Jimmy utters,

“Make haste! Make haste”

And Jack is pulling his snickersnee to kill little Billee. Then Billy went to the top of the mast and spoke louder that he is watching a land.

He watched ‘Jerusalem’, ‘madagaskar’, and the flag of British ancestors. According to his speech, they shifted their boat towards the land and then went to the land.

Here, Billy hanged fat Jac and flogged Jimmy. After ending their lives he becomes the captain of seventy-three. Here, the story ends but this is a unique style of composition of the poem.

Thackeray writes the poem in a narrative way where he is telling a story to the readers. This is a perfect narrative poem.

Analysis

“Little Billee” is a perfect narrative poem where the readers will find a story where little Billee will be defeating the antagonist.

Three sailors went on a sea voyage where they will be fighting for food. So, Billy saves his life from the danger and hanged Jimmy and Jack.

There is a deep meaning that Thackeray wants to show if a person wants to live then will definitely find a way to get up. That is the main motif of the poet that he wants to let the readers know. Thus, Billy’s intelligence let him free from suffering and lets him the captain of ‘seventy-three’.

Review

When the poem gets published it was not very famous. Then gradually people get to know about the poem and then they find meaning by reading this poem.

This is why in the twenty-first century readers are working on Thackeray and exploring his literary works.

Theme

Little Billee is the protagonist of the poem who becomes successful to be the captain of seventy-three by hanging Jack and Jimmy. He plays the role of a battalion who fights by his brain which fetches him to success.

So, the use of intelligence and the work for it are the themes of ‘Little Billee’. He was younger than the other sailors but his assiduous mind plays the game.

Rhetorical Analysis

The poem is having a total of nine stanzas and each stanza consists of four lines. But here, Thackeray never used any specific rhyming pattern. It is written in blank verse.

Alliteration is one of the major literary elements of the poem. Here, ‘pickled pork’ is an alliteration because the ‘p’ sound is being repeated. ‘gorging Jack to guzzling Jimmy’ is another alliteration.

Syncope is another relevant poetic device in the case of the poem “Little Billee”. Syncope is used when a poet writes a word using apostrophe just like,

“he’s”, “there’s”, “we’re”, etc.

The allusion also can be found in this poem. When the poet takes a historical reference in the poem then it is called allusion. Also, have taken some references for geographical elements.

“With Admiral Napier, K. C. B.”

Here this is an allusion.

So, these are all significant literary devices that are being shown but some minor devices are there that are not very relevant.