This is an analysis of the poem Racing Clippers (A Wool Fleet Memory) that begins with:

I've not made much o' my life, Lord knows; I'm a has-been through an' through,
An' meanin' 's as far as I've mostly got with the things as I've...

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: aabcXcB ddbcB cbaXbcXcB acXaeXBX ffbcB aabcB ggbcB bbbcB ffbecBX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 7,5,9,8,5,5,5,5,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1111111110010111 1101111110100111101 010110110111101111 111100 10 11110 1001 1111101101111001001 10111110111011101 011101011110100101 0101001011110 1001 11111010110 11 001 1101001001001010 111101100110101111 1110100 10 11110 1001 111001111101001 110 10 1100101010111 101011110111101010 1101011011111100 1001 1 1110111101011110 11100111101100111 10111010011111111 11101001001110 1001 1101001011010111 0110111101111001101 11110101111111111 100100101010 1001 111010101101111101 1100111101001000101 1110100110100100101 1101001011110 1001 01110101011111 111010010110101101 11111010011101101 0010100101110 1001 111101011100001 1110111110111101 11111101111100101 101110101111011110 10111001111110 1001
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 300
  • Average number of words per stanza: 61
  • Amount of lines: 63
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; i've, my, as, an', in, it, we, ol', great are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word adair 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 Racing Clippers (A Wool Fleet Memory);
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Cicely Fox Smith