This is an analysis of the poem The Old Man With The Broken Arm that begins with:

At Hsin-fëng—an old man—four-score and eight;
The hair on his head and the hair of his eyebrows—white as the new snow....

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: abccdeXXfbccbcghcefhhh iibdacadbXbcciegedfXhebXefigX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 22,29,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1111111111 01101101001111011 1010100011101101001 0011111110011010 1101111001111101 11010100100111010 0111111110010011 10100101111110 101100011100010111 111010111001011 11010111011001 01101111110 1101011101100 11100101001011 11011011110110 1010100101100101 101101001010101010 110111001011101 0010110001011001010110 1010010110101001 101110101001011 0010111111101 111111101 11111010100100101 001001110011011 110010111100111 1100111001011001 1110001110101011 1101101011101 1110010110101111 11101010110001 1111011101 11011101101111 0101111110111 11011 001101 0100101001110111 11010011010110 1101111111010111110 0111110011111011 1001011010100100 10111 111110001 1111 101100011111 0101011110100010101 11111 101100111101 010001010010100011 1101111011011110 101011010010011
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1467
  • Average number of words per stanza: 293
  • Amount of lines: 51
  • Average number of symbols per line: 57 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; his, on, of, and, to, i are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines pain is repeated).

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

  • summary of The Old Man With The Broken Arm;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Bai Juyi