The Sinking Ship by Dora Sigerson Shorter: poem analysis

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

The ship is sinking, come ye one and all.
Stand fast and so this weakness overhaul,...

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: aaaXbbbbXcccbXdddbX eeebXaaabX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 19,10,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0101011111 1111010101 1111110101 11 0101000101 1011111100 1101011111 0111010001 11 1111110111 0111110101 1101010111 0101010101 11 0101110001 1001001101 0101111001 1111111111 11 1111100101 1101110101 1101011101 1111011111 11 0101010001 0111010111 0101100101 0101110101 11
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 538
  • Average number of words per stanza: 105
  • Amount of lines: 29
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (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, they, in are repeated.

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

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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