This is an analysis of the poem Ballade Des Souris that begins with:

Où trouver la côte et la mer
Groënland, Afrique, Islande, Espagne,...

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: aXaaXXXX aXaXXXbX XXcX XcaX bXaX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11011111 10101010 111101101 1111111 111110 1110001 11011011 1101110 11110111 11101110 111111 11111010 10111101 1101111 111100110 1101110 11110101 1100101 10011001 1011010 10110101 10100101 1010111 1101110 111110 1111111 1110011 1101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 178
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 28
  • 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; on, et, du are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word et at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The poet repeated the same word campagne at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of Ballade Des Souris;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Charles Cros