The Belated Swallow by Mary Hannay Foott: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Belated Swallow that begins with:

And the birds of the air have nests.”
Belated swallow, whither flying?... 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: X aaXbbbX ccdXaad eXaXXXa ffefffe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,7,7,7,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10100111 010101010 010101010 0111 101111010 110111010 110101010 1101 110101010 0100110010 1011 011111100 1101111110 110101010 0101 011111110 110111010 0111 110111010 110111010 110011100 01001 1100010111 110111111 0111 110111111 110111011 011101011 1101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 192
  • Average number of words per stanza: 33
  • Amount of lines: 29
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; thy, thou, thee are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines thee is repeated).

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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