This is an analysis of the poem The Oakland Dog that begins with:

I lay one happy night in bed
And dreamed that all the dogs were dead.... 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: aabb ccdd eedd aaXf aagg hheX bbii jjkk ddaX dddd lldd aadX Xbdd mmbb bbdd nnbb nniX hhXfXccee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11110101 11110101 101010111 110101101 101010101 0110101 11011111 11110101 111000111 01010001 11010101 11010111 11010101 11001101 11010100 11000101 01010101 01000101 11010101 01011111 11000101 110011101 11010111 01000101 10100011 11100101 01010101 01110000 11110111 01110101 01010101 10011111 1111100010 100101010 11011111 110011110 10111111 01010100 00010101 11010101 11011101 11010111 01011011 11011101 11010101 010101001 11010101 010001001 1110100 111111 11010101 100101101 10111101 11010101 11010101 01010001 101010101 11110101 01110011 10010101 11011101 11110101 10110101 1110001 110000101 100010101 11111111 110011111 11010111 11110001 01000100 01110101 10110101 01010101 11110101 01110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 135
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 76
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; and is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words i, the, and are repeated.

    The author used the same word true 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 The Oakland Dog;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ambrose Bierce