This is an analysis of the poem About His Person that begins with:

Five pounds fifty in change, exactly,
a library card on its date of expiry....

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: aa bb cc Xb dd ee bb bb ff eX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 111001010 011011010110 0111 01011 010110010010 01101001010 010110101 110111101 01001 0011 011101010 101101010 1010001 0101 01001010010 01010010010 11110 110110 010110001 11101
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 61
  • Average number of words per stanza: 11
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; in is repeated.

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

    The author used the same word a at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

  • summary of About His Person;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Simon Armitage