William Makepeace Thackeray is one of the best-known poets of the nineteenth century and he opens many perspectives in his poems.

“The Ballads of Bouillabaisse” is one of his best poems where he talks about a famous food in Paris. As he said, Bouillabaisse is a street food that is awesome in taste.

Throughout the poem, Thackeray states on the food and other elements of Paris.

Summary and Analysis

In the stanza of the poem, Thackeray explains the street in Paris which is called “Rue Neuve des petits Champs”. It is the name of the street where the poet ate a bowl of Bouillabaisse. It was the poet’s youth when be eating the food.

“This Bouillabaisse a noble dish is
A sort of soup, or broth, or brew,”

At the beginning of the second stanza, Thackeray utters that it is a noble dish that fills with soup, or broth, or brew, or it is a hotchpotch of various fishes.

Greenwich does not about food that is being prepared using red velvet, mussels, green herb, onion, garlic, etc. In Paris, Thackeray and his friend ate a bowl of Bouillabaisse that was awesome according to the poet.

Then he further enunciates, it is rich and savoury just like a philosopher who have already taken all goods, beauties, and drinks.

To the person, a dish of Bouillabaisse would be the best. So, according to the poet Bouillabaisse is very tasty and also he is introducing this preparation to the readers.

After coming to the next stanza, Thackeray is uttering nothing gets changed.

“How ‘s Monsieur Terré, waiter, pray?
… Monsieur is dead this many a day.”

Here, he takes a reference of Monsieur Terré and how it gets died. Then Terré is making a run and then he is being that still, he is making Bouillabaisse or not.

This stanza is ending here and there is no significant meaning. Then in the next stanza, the poet again goes back to the description of the food and his likings.

The poet likes to have a bowl of Bouillabaisse by sitting at the corner chair which is beside the ‘nook’ or broken wall. This is a well-known chair where everyone likes to sit and there he saw ‘cari luoghi’.

This was the time when the poet does not have a scary beard but now it fills with grizzling and grim hairs. So this stanza is making him remember the past days and how he took the food.

But when comes back to reality he sees that he is waiting for Bouillabaisse. The next stanza begins with an echo of nostalgia where the poet is thinking about his previous days.

“Where are you, old companions trusty
Of early days, here met to dine?”

He is finding the old companions who used to dine all together. Then they call the waiter and ask to have a good old wine along with Bouillabaisse.

The poet can remember that they all take place around the table and they share Bouillabaisse and old Wine. So, these are segments taken from the past life which is why these are precious to the poet.

In the next stanza, the poet again takes another reference to his past life where Jack made a wonderful marriage. He further takes some names such as,

“There ‘s laughing Tom is laughing yet”

Laughing Tom is not laughing at present and brave Augustus drives his carriage. So these are not present in the poet’s present time and maybe he is cherishing these days.

How they all seat and ear, drank Bouillabaisse. This is a pretty stanza because the poet is telling the readers about him and merging them with contemporary life.

“Ah me! how quick the days are flitting!
…In this same place-but not alone.”

Through these lines also readers can get easily the poet’s mind that he is missing these days. Once there was someone who was sitting there and smiled at the poet and the poet’s heart filled with joy for that.

That person cheered him up but now in his present time there is none with whom the poet can share his cup.

Thereafter the poet suddenly comes back to reality and says to fill his lonely glass and also fill the stomach with sufficient food that will help him to make rhymes.

Now for this time, the poet will eat alone with the vision of the past. The bottle of wine is sealed he is opening and tells,

“With thankful heart, whate’er the meal is
—Here comes the smoking Bouillabaisse!”

These two lines are very relevant because he is thankful to God as he gets the food to eat and on the other hand he is blessed because of having delicious Bouillabaisse.

Theme

Nostalgia is one of the major themes of the poem because throughout the poem he keeps speaking about the previous days of his life.

The poet spends days with friends and ate bouillabaisse. Once he came with a beloved and took the food. So he is missing those days.

One another thing is melancholy which comes from his aggressive mindset. In the whole poem, Thackeray states about the delicious dish and sometimes it seems that he is encouraging his readers to taste the food.

As the poet is talking about loneliness that is why there has some melancholy.

Literary Devices

A literary device is one of the major parts of a poem because it is always rich in content. Nostalgic is one of the best rhetorical devices because it is making an echo of past days.

Poet speaks on his last days in every stanza which is why it is a significant rhetorical device.

Another device is Syncope which means writing a word using apostrophes just as, ‘accustom’d’, ‘vanish’d’. These words are written using an apostrophe.

Alliteration is another rhetorical device that is the repetition of the same sounds in a single sentence,

“With Burgundy and Bouillabaisse.”

Then there is another relevant literary device called Anaphora which means the repetition of the same words at the beginning of two sentences one after another like,

“There’s laughing TOM is laughing
There are brave AUGUSTUS drives”

So these are relevant figures of speech but still, some devices take place in the poem. Personification, symbolism, and enjambment are playing important roles in the poem.