The Ballad of the White Horse is also considered a Roman Catholic allegory. Chesterton incorporates a significant amount of philosophy into the basic structure of the story. The poem consists of 2,684 lines of English verse. They are divided into stanzas, typically consisting of 4 to 6 lines each. The poem is based on the ballad stanza form, although the poem often departs significantly from it. Types of metrical feet are used more or less freely, although there is often basic repetition in a line. The rhyme scheme varies, often being ABCB or ABCCCB. Prefatory Note Chesterton begins his work with a note (in prose) declaring
Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry życia i zdrowia J. K. Mości" ("Annual song for the day of rescuing life and health of His Majesty, the King"). He also employed it in the poem "Piesek" ("A little dog"). Franciszek Karpiński made use of the analysed form in "Psalm 8. O wielkości Boga" ("Psalm 8. On God's grandeur"). He repeated it in the "Psalmu 64 część. O opatrzności" ("Part of Psalm 64. On Providence") and in the poem "Pieśń do świętych Polaków, patronów Polski" ("Hymn to the holy Poles, patrons of Poland"). Another poet, Franciszek Dionizy Kniaźnin used Sappho's stanza very frequently. Another example of Sapphic stanza