This is an analysis of the poem The Elphin Nourrice that begins with:

I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low,
An' a cow low down in yon glen;... 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: AbCb AXCX XbcdeX cdfd edfd XXbf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,6,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101101011 10111011 1101111 10101111 1101101011 10111011 1101111 10101111 101010 111101 111111 111111 111101010 1101101 111111 11111 1111101 011110 11111011 111111 11110101 110110 111110 111101 11110111 110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 131
  • Average number of words per stanza: 28
  • Amount of lines: 26
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; cow, low, moan, your, for are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word or is repeated.

    The author used the same words i, o at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The poet repeated the same word be 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 The Elphin Nourrice;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Andrew Lang