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

This is the ship the Man built . . .
In time's grey dawn, by the unsailed sea,...

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: abbccaadd eeddf feedd Xdaag gddbbXXXbbffffggbba
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 9,5,5,5,19,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 0001011 0111101001 101101111 10010111 101111011 010100101 1010111001 011100101 1110110111 10101101110 10111001110 10111111 10111111 111110101 110110111 1100101110 11011001010 100100101 1100110111 1100101100 0100110101 01101111011 110101111 11101111111 111110101 111111001 010101111 1101001101 111101111 1101101110 11101111101 000111101 110100111 0110110101 111010101 110111010 111110001 0010110111 110011101 1101101001 10010100 00101011
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 291
  • Average number of words per stanza: 58
  • Amount of lines: 42
  • Average number of symbols per line: 41 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; him, and, his, it, he, too are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The First Ship;
  • 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