Le Hareng Saur by Charles Cros: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Le Hareng Saur that begins with:

Il était un grand mur blanc – nu, nu, nu,
Contre le mur une échelle – haute, haute, haute,...

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: abc dXX bXa XXc bXX cXX XdX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 111111111 10111111 1111101111 1110111111 1101111101010 1100010111 101101111 110110111 1110111111 1110010111111 10111110111 1110101111 110001111 1010010111 1111110111 1100101111 110110111 11001110101010 110110101010 1111011111 1100110101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 149
  • Average number of words per stanza: 26
  • Amount of lines: 21
  • Average number of symbols per line: 49 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; sales, nu, sec, haute, pointu, un, gros, toc, longue, tombe, qui, loin, lourd, graves, simple, toujours are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of Le Hareng Saur;
  • 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

Poems about...
✕