This is an analysis of the poem Theseus that begins with:

Blue shadows wreathed the galley's prow that bore
Twice seven Attic youth, a glorious train...

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: abab cdcd adad efef gXgd hihi jkjk alal bdbd gXge bbbb lili hkhk lalX lXlh mlml nXnX llll lhlh dada olol afaf XXXd clcl fbfb XfXfXghgh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11110010111 11010101001 1101000101 100101 0111010101 10010010001 1101110101 111001 110010111 0111010101 1010100101 0101001 1011010101 1101010001 1001010111 101111 1111000101 0110110010 1111110101 101111 1101010101 11010101010 101010001010 1111010 1101000101 1001010111 0001010101 111101 11101010101 0111110101 10010100101 100101 10011000101 1001010111 0111110101 111101 1101110101 0101110101 1101010001 111101 1101000001 10010101001 1101111101 111101 11010111001 00110101110 11010011101 0101010 10100101001 1101010001 1101010001 011111 1101010011 1001111001 1001010101 1101110 1011010101 1001010101 0111010111 010001 11010101001 1001010101 1001010001 110011 1111000101 1001110110 0101011111 01010110 1101011101 1110101111 1101110101 1010001 0101110001 0110011101 1101011101 111101 10010010101 1011010101 1111010101 010101 1101010001 1001010101 1101010101 110111 010001101 101100101001 1001011111 110001 0101110111 0101010100 11110101011 010001 1101110101 1001001111 01011100101 110001 0111011101 0101110101 0101110101 111101 01000011110 1101110101 1101110110 011101 110100111 1101001101 1101001101 011111
  • Amount of stanzas: 27
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 156
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 108
  • 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; of, his, to are repeated.

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

    The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The word/phrase love connects the lines.

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

  • summary of Theseus;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Bacchylides