This is an analysis of the poem Europe, The 72d And 73d Years Of These States that begins with:

SUDDENLY, out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves,
Like lightning it le'pt forth, half startled at itself,... 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: aXba XaXc dXaXefXXa gdXX XeahXga feXii egiXX ajX Xiac bff j hfX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,9,4,7,5,5,3,4,3,1,3,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 100100111010101 110011110101 0101010101011001 01 1111 1101011101 1100101 111001111001 1110100101101 11100100101 111000101111000 0100011101 110010111011101110 010 101101111001101 10100101 01010010001 101001011001010 101111 11010011011100 10101101100 101110010101 110111001011110 101 1111111 1001100011101011 11010101100110100 101 111010111101001 1 01001011000100101 10010010101 1111111110 110011 11011001011110 11 1110011111101000 0100 110101111 1101001100011 101011110110101 1010010110111110 001011 1011001111101101 10 10001010101001011 10110001001100100 100 10011001011100101 0011001001 10010100110010 101010100110
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 216
  • Average number of words per stanza: 35
  • Amount of lines: 55
  • Average number of symbols per line: 47 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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; of, its, o, they, and are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word not 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 Europe, The 72d And 73d Years Of These States;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Walt Whitman