This is an analysis of the poem Old-Fashioned Letters that begins with:

Old-fashioned letters! How good they were!
And nobody writes them now;...

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: AbccbbbddeXddeeXffcfggccfhhAhiibbhjj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 36,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110101010 1111101 10111001 1010101111 010110111 11111101001 0110101 0111001101 0100101101 110101101 11011110 01111101 110110111 1111100101 1110110101 1100111 1100101101 110100111 110101111 0100101 1100101101 1101101101 1010110101 0010110101 11110101 10010101 1100101110 110101010 1111101 1111100101 0010110101 1110111101 111100101 1110101 1111100011 0111101111
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1394
  • Average number of words per stanza: 278
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word to is repeated.

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

  • summary of Old-Fashioned Letters;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Edgar Albert Guest