The Sailor Boy by Alfred Lord Tennyson: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Sailor Boy that begins with:

He rose at dawn and, fired with hope,
Shot o'er the seething harbour-bar,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd edeX bfbf gXgf hdhX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 111111001 110010101 11011101 11000101 11110111 11011001 101111111 11011111 11110101 01010101 11110101 101101110 1001101001 01111111 11010101 01010111 101010111 110101110 11010111 1110111101 101111111 01010101 01010011 111101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 156
  • Average number of words per stanza: 28
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, my are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, my are repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Sailor Boy;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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