 The poem has the rhyming scheme AABB traditional for ballad verse.However, Kipling begins the poem with the "stunningly memorable" AABBBBBBBB, the A being "sea - me", and the B including "say - lay - Mandalay".Another ballad-like feature is the use of stanzas and refrains, distinguished both typographically and by the triple end rhymes of the refrains.