Ballades I - To Theocritus, In Winter by Andrew Lang: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Ballades I - To Theocritus, In Winter that begins with:

AH! leave the smoke, the wealth, the roar
Of London, leave the bustling street, ... 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: ababbXbC ababXcbC ababbcbC XXbcbC
  • 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: 11010101 010101001 111001001 01000101 11010101 0101010 11011101 110101001 11110111 11010101 11001101 11010101 10010111 11010101 11011101 110101001 1001101 01001101 01111101 11110101 11110101 11011100 11110001 110101001 10 10111111 11011101 11110101 110101001
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 208
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 29
  • Average number of symbols per line: 35 (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; still, they, and are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word sea 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 Ballades I - To Theocritus, In Winter;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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