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

See, there he goes, a-pulling his long beard;
With frowning brow, and far and absent gaze,...

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: AbbbccdcdbXbbebefgbg afbfbhahAdXdadfdXadadhah
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 20,24,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111010011 0101111101 1011010110 1101011101 1111010101 1111001001 1101011101 1111100111 1101010101 1101010101 1111111101 1101011101 1111010101 1101111101 1111110101 01110100101 0111011001 1100011101 1100010111 1111010101 1111010101 0101000011 1101110100 0101110101 1111110101 0111010001 1111111101 11010010101 1111010011 1101111101 01011101110 01010010111 1111010101 0101011001 0101011111 1101110101 1111110101 01100011011 1101110101 1101010101 1101110101 1011110010 1101010101 1011011100
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 991
  • Average number of words per stanza: 188
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (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, his, that, to, her are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Old Professor;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Dora Sigerson Shorter