This is an analysis of the poem A Child's Battles that begins with:

Praise of the knights of old
May sleep: their tale is told,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aabbbb ccdefd ccbggb hhiXci ffdiid jjiXbi ggkcck bbXiil aambbm eeaffa iinoon bbgppg aaacca cccffc nneXpe hhappa bbeXje bbqcXq hhgggg aapcXp nnpbbp bbpppp aapiXp eegppgXlllccl
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 100101 111101 1111 01110110 0111010 101 0101010 1101110 1001 1101111 1111110 001 110111 110101 0101 1101110 0111110 111 1111001 110100 0101 01001000 1111010 101 0101010 0101010 1101 1111110 1101010 111 0100111 111101 0101 01001110 01101110 101 011111 010101 0111 0111010 0101110 101 111111 011111 1110 1101010 1111110 101 111101 010100 1101 1001110 1111110 111 010111 1111001 1101 1101010 1111110 101 110111 110101 1111 10011010 1100010 101 111101 1111001 1101 1101010 1111010 101 111101 110111 1111 1101111 0101010 111 100011 110101 11011 1111010 0111010 111 0111011 111101 1101 0111110 0111110 101 011101 010101 0101 1101110 1101010 101 1000101 111111 1101 1101010 0111110 011 110101 110011 0111 1101010 1111110 111 110001 011111 1101 1101110 1100001 101 1111011 110111 01101 0101010 1111100 111 111101 010101 1101 1111010 0100110 111 011101 111111 1111 1111010 1101110 111 111101 111111 1111 1111110 110101 111 110111 110111 1101 1111010 0111110 101 110111 111111 0101 1111010 1111010 111
  • Amount of stanzas: 25
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 150
  • Average number of words per stanza: 28
  • Amount of lines: 150
  • Average number of symbols per line: 24 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; for is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words the, nor, for, and, take are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word song 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 A Child's Battles;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne