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

The shore-boat lies in the morning light,
By the good ship ready for sailing ;... 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: abaabab cdccdcX eaeeaeX eaeeaeX fgffgfX hihjijX klkklkX geggegX XejXeje efeeXef kfkkfkX memmemX feffefX nennenX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 011100101 100110110 011110101 10100101001 101010010 1010101101 11001010 1011010101 10110111 10110100111 10111001101 1100101 10110100110 01111011 111111101 1111101 111101001 101100101 1100101 1110100101 11111001 111100111 11101011 1110010111 0110111111 1111111 010110101 10101101 11101001001 11001001 1110101101 1110100101 1110100 1111100101 11101011 1110101100 10101001 1110101100 11101001001 1100101 111110101 11111111 110010111 11101101 1110111111 110101101 10111101 0010101011 111011010 1101110101 1101101 1110100111 010100101 0010101 10100011101 01001010 110100111 11111001 1011111111 110010010 1111001 111101011 11111001 1110100101 1100101 111011111 010010101 10110111 1010010100 10100101 111011101 1110101 111100101 1010110111 1011111 1101100111 11101110 1010011011 11010110 101110101 0111100101 00101010 1101110101 1011110101 101111111 0011101 01101101111 1111101111 0101101 011110111 0100100 111110101 11001010 1111101111 111111011 11111010 10111110111 1101101011
  • Amount of stanzas: 14
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 277
  • Average number of words per stanza: 53
  • Amount of lines: 98
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (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; her, ere, and, of, to, i, your, my, thou are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words there, ere, and, have, hast, for, i are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word ' at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Adam Lindsay Gordon