This is an analysis of the poem How Yesterday Looked that begins with:

THE HIGH horses of the sea broke their white riders
On the walls that held and counted the hours...

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: aab cdX Xae dXf XXcXfeb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 011000111110 10111110010 0110 11011101101 111011101 101001 011001011111 110111001 101110 01101111011 10111101110 10101 110111010110 110110111110 010100 11110111110111 0111001101 010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 729
  • Average number of words per stanza: 145
  • Amount of lines: 23
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; and is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of How Yesterday Looked;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Carl Sandburg