There Was One by Dorothy Parker: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem There Was One that begins with:

There was one a-riding grand
On a tall brown mare,...

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: Abab acac dede XaXa FeFe dada Acac gcgc FaFaXadad
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1110101 10111 10111 1111 01011 1101 111101 10101 1110101 001011 101101 11001 101010 1011 11110 1011 1110010 10111 101110 10111 1011 111 1010001 1011 1110101 11101 1110101 1110001 1110101 00111 10111 1110101 1110010 101011 101110 10101 10101 11101 1001 1111
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 96
  • Average number of words per stanza: 20
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 23 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, he 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 there 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 There Was One;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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