This is an analysis of the poem The Auld Wife that begins with:

PART I
The auld wife sat at her ivied door, ... full text

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: a bCbc aCac dCdc cCcc eCec bCbc X eCec eCXc eCec fCfc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,4,4,4,4,4,4,1,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11 011110101 101110101 0111100101 10100110101 0101110111 101110101 10111110111 1011101111 0101110111 101110101 0110110101 00100100111 010101111 101110101 1101100101 11110101101 010101111 101110101 01100100111 10101100101 010101111 101110101 11100101111 1100100111 11 1100110101 101110101 1110110101 1011101101 1100110101 101110101 111100101 1101100101 1100110101 101110101 1110101111 11101110101 0110011100 101110101 10101000011 11001001111
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 152
  • Average number of words per stanza: 30
  • Amount of lines: 42
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, her, d are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words the, she 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 The Auld Wife;
  • 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 Stuart Calverley