This is an analysis of the poem The Roads' End that begins with:

Old Ben, the pensioner, is going down to die.
Huddled in the mail-car, he turns a wistful eye... 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: aabbccdd eeffaXgg hhXXXhXd XciiXXaX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110100010101 100011110101 10010101010101 111110010111 11100011110101 0110110111 11010111111111 1110010101011001 101011111111101 1101111110111 101111101111101 11110101111101 01010111111101 11110111111100 01011100110101 01010111100101 110100110001 1011101110100101 01110101011101 11110101110010 111111101111010 11111100010101 11100111111110 11111111111111 111001111110110 01101100010111 11010011101100 11111111100001 111111011101100 11011101110101 10011101010101 11110110111100
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 491
  • Average number of words per stanza: 93
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 61 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 12
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, his, of, ', old are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Roads' End;
  • 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