This is an analysis of the poem The Dover Bitch: A Criticism Of Life that begins with:

So there stood Matthew Arnold and this girl
With the cliffs of England crumbling away behind them,...

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: abcdXdecdfegdhhgggXbghhafXhbX X
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 29,1,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111010101 00101010001010 11100100101 11101111111 11011001 11110101111 10000100010 11110010001 110111101101 01001010111 101001111101 11001110101 1010101011011 10010110101 1100011001 111110100101 101101011001 11001010101 010110111110 101111101 110011110101 111111101001 11101011111010 1101111101001 11111111101 1110001101001 01110011110 100110100111 1011100100110 11101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 703
  • Average number of words per stanza: 140
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • Average number of symbols per line: 46 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to, and, she are repeated.

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

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Dover Bitch: A Criticism Of Life;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Anthony Evan Hecht