This is an analysis of the poem Waly, Waly that begins with:

O waly, waly, up the bank,
O waly, waly, down the brae.... 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: abcbXbXb XdXdceae cbabXbXX XXbbXbfX fgcggbXb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010101 11010101 11010111 11111101 11111011 1101011 11011101 11110101 1101011010 01011001 11010101 11011101 110011111 110011111 11111101 11110111 11011011 01110111 11011011 111110101 10011111 11011101 11011111 1011111 11011101 1101100 11111111 11111101 11101111 10010101 111100110 1110010 11110111 11101101 111100101 11010101 11011101 11010101 11110111 101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 271
  • Average number of words per stanza: 56
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; waly, it, my, be, in, and are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word o 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 Waly, Waly;
  • 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