Morton by James Whitcomb Riley: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Morton that begins with:

The warm pulse of the nation has grown chill;
The muffled heart of Freedom, like a knell,... 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: aaaa bcbc adad cXcb efef eeee dddX dgdg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0110010111 0101010101 1100111100 1100101 11010100101 0101010101 1101010111 100101 11010111001 11010010101 1101010101 010101 1101010101 0101010100 01010010101 010101 0101011101 110101001001 1101110001 0101011 1111000101 11010101001 1101010101 110001 1101110101 11011101100 1101111101 111000 1111010101 0101010111 1101110100 010001
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 141
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 33
  • 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; of, with, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Morton;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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