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

All day the clouds sail by,
Out of the west, whose tears are scarcely dried,...

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: abba cddc eeee ffff aaaa Xggg heehXfeef
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110111 1001111101 1011100101 110101 111111 1001110101 0101000101 111101 110111 1111011101 1001010001 110101 1100111 0101010101 0101010001 111101 011101 1111010101 0111010001 110101 110110 11001111101 10011101001 110101 110101 11110111001 1101110101 110011 101111 11010110111 1001110101 100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 148
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; of, and are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words all, they 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 Clouds;
  • 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