This is an analysis of the poem Small Craft that begins with:

When Drake sailed out from Devon to break King Phillip's pride,
He had great ships at his bidding and little ones beside,...

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: aabb bbcc ddaa edXf ggee aaaa hhcc ffii jjkk hhddXeejj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111010011101 11111010110101 0111110110101 1111111110101 11110101010 11111101010 1111010111101 11111011011110 1101110111011 010011101101001 0101110001101 1111011011111 0101010010010 1111011011111 1101110011101 0111010111101 1101010110101 11110101011101 11111101101110 11001110101110 0100010111101 1101110111101 0101110110101 0101011010101 1111010111101 1111011110101 0111010010101 0111011110101 1011110110111 1111110010111 10111010010111 1111011110111 11110111010111 1100110011101 10011110111111 111001111111101 1111010011101 11011101101001 01001010101111 1101111111111 11110101010 1111101110 1101110011111 1100011111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 234
  • Average number of words per stanza: 43
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 58 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, craft, small, they, out are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines 'em is repeated).

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

  • summary of Small Craft;
  • 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