This is an analysis of the poem Cotton-Wool that begins with:

Shun the brush and shun the pen,
Shun the ways of clever men,...

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: aabbccDD aaeeffDD XbeeggDD hhbbccDDXaaaaaaDDa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,18,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1011101 1010101 1111101 1111101 1110101 11000101 10101001 1110101 1110101 1110111 11101010 11101110 010011101 1111101 10101001 1110101 1011100 1011101 101010010 010101010 1110111 1010111 10101001 1110101 1010101 010010101 1010111 1110110 1111001 11111101 10101001 1110101 101110101 101110101 0101000100 1111010100 1011111 1011101 10101001 1110101 01
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 261
  • Average number of words per stanza: 47
  • Amount of lines: 41
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (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; shun, you, never are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words shun, they'd are repeated.

    The poet repeated the same word wool 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 Cotton-Wool;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Alfred Noyes