This is an analysis of the poem A West Country Ballad that begins with:

This is the tale of Norton
Who vowed a vow, by zounds,...

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 XXde ddXX eecX dfXf XdbX dcfg aXXc eXXX Xaaa gaXa dXeX heXe fdbd igXX ihgh bebe babX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 0001010 110111 0101010 110101 10101101101 11111 1101111011 111101 101110111 111001 01010101 1101010 111111011 111111 101111010 1101010 1101001011 1011101 01111100 010101 111111101 1101110 1101011011 1101100 11010101 110010 010111101 110101 101110101 0101110 1101010111 11010 1011111000 111111 1100101010 110100100 1010010101 010101 11111111 11111 101111101 010101 11010010 001111 101110111 110111 01110101 1111010 11010111 0101111 1101011111 011111 110101111 1100010 11011101 111011 101011111 111111 111111011 1111100 10011101 110111 11110111 110101 111110101 111101 00011001 1110111 11010111 1101001 10110010 1101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 18
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 133
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 72
  • 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; my, and, thy, he, laughed, thou are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word then 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 A West Country Ballad;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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