This is an analysis of the poem The Old Brass Rail that begins with:

Foot on the rail in the olden days,
For all the world to see,... full text

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: XAbAXXcX cdbdebbb XfXfXgegXccfcfAbA
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,17,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110100101 110101 010111111 110111 10110101 100101 1011100111 11101110 11011101 111111 1101110111 110111 100100111 111011 11100100111 11100101 1101000110 101101 101110111 1011111 100100101 101101 101010111 1111101 110110101 1100111 101111111 0010101 11011101 110101 010111101 110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 271
  • Average number of words per stanza: 56
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (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; and, his, sin are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word foot 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 Brass Rail;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis