This is an analysis of the poem The Sheep In The Ruins that begins with:

for Learned and Augustus Hand
You, my friends, and you strangers, all of you, ...

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: a XbccddeeebXff cdXgeeXbXhb ediaddj cfgkcekjbb icdced gd dbakhheeXcaaaakb XjX bcaeei XkXbbjgdX Xddd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,13,11,7,10,6,2,16,3,6,9,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1110101 1111110101 101010101 110110 011101010 11010111 01110101 1010111 1111100101 1111 100011101010 1111101 10010101011101 11001101 11111101110 0111010110 1111110101010 10001001 01001100010101 1100110111 010101001101000101 1111010111 1111110 110001110100 11100100010 0101010111 0101000001 11101010100010 1010001010101 1111010001110 11010100010001 01101000100 1001001111010 10111110111 11001110 100110101 001010001010 10100101 10010001001 101 0101010100010 1010001010101000101 101 10001010001010 101100101 1011010 1011111 1111111 01010110010 01110101 0010011100111 01100101010 011110100101 10101101100 110010101 1001010000 1101010001000101 111101 0101100101 11010 111 010101010001110 010100010011 11010001001 1101010100010 0101010011 010111001010111 110101010 1001110111 10111110110 10010101010 101010101 10101100101 11110101 111000111010 100101010101 1001010001 1100010101010 10001010111 1101000110110 111110111 1001000111010 1011111111 1101011001 1100101 101010101 0101000101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 312
  • Average number of words per stanza: 58
  • Amount of lines: 97
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (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; you, his, marvels, of, man, and are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words shall, consider, a, the, because, listen are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Sheep In The Ruins;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Archibald MacLeish