Ballade Of Cleopatra's Needle by Andrew Lang: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Ballade Of Cleopatra's Needle that begins with:

Ye giant shades of RA and TUM,
Ye ghosts of gods Egyptian,... 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: XabaacaC babaacaC babaacaC XXacaC
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010111 1101010 01001101 01100111 11010100 01111111 11011111 01000101 01010111 11010111 11010111 11000101 11010101 11110111 01010111 01000101 01011101 11010111 01010101 01010100 11111111 11111101 10010111 01000101 10 10111101 10010111 01011101 01000101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 192
  • Average number of words per stanza: 35
  • Amount of lines: 29
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (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; of is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words ye, this, what are repeated.

    The poet repeated the same word mist 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 Ballade Of Cleopatra's Needle;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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