This is an analysis of the poem Once in Royal David's City that begins with:

Once in royal David's city
Stood in a lowly cattle shed,...

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: ababbb cdddaa beceee cfgfgX XhdhccXdecebb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10101010 10010101 10101010 0010101 1011101 1010101 11101010 1011101 10101010 1010101 00111110 11111010 11101011 1110101 11101010 0110111 1010110 10100011 11011010 1111111 11101110 1111111 11101110 11100110 11111111 1010101 11111110 01101001 1110101 0011101 10111010 0010101 11111010 1111111 1110101 1011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 187
  • Average number of words per stanza: 37
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; in, and, he 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 Once in Royal David's City;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Cecil Frances Alexander