This is an analysis of the poem The Old Ships (1919) that begins with:

They called 'em from the breakers' yards, the shores of Dead Men's Bay,
From coaling wharves the wide world round, red-rusty where they lay,...

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: aaa bbb cdcDddeeeeffD aaa bbb gdgdhhcceebbD fff ccc dddDhhiijjbbd bbbXfdfDaabbd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,13,3,3,13,3,3,13,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11000101010111 010100111110111 1111011011110111 01010110111110 11010101110101 110101110011101 00101110111 11110111 110100111 0111101 010011111 111101111 101101111 11101111 11101101 111011001 10101100101 11001111001 0111101 11010101110101 11010111101011 11010111110101 11010101010101 11101101111101 01111100110101 0011111101 11110111 1111101101 0111101 011110111 111111111 1100010111 010101111 1100010111 010100101 1110111111 11001111001 0111101 11111101011001 01010101011101 11010101111101 11111101110101 11110111111101 001010100110111 00111101011 11110111 010010111 0111101 011110111 11101101 11101110 10101101 11101011 111011011 10101101 1011111101 0111001 1111001001011101 111111010011101 11111111010101 00110110101 11100111 111101111 0111101 111101111 101111111 11101111001 010110101 01010111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 274
  • Average number of words per stanza: 52
  • Amount of lines: 70
  • Average number of symbols per line: 46 (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; and, they, she, or, some, their, she's, same, to, as are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word and 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 Old Ships (1919);
  • 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