This is an analysis of the poem Mothers' Excuses that begins with:

Mother for me made excuses
When I was a little lad;...

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: abcbdbXbefgfgbXbdhhhicjcfcacdbibkcecjhkh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 40,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: shakespearean sonnet
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10111010 1110101 11101110 1010101 10101010 1110011 10001001 10011101 11111110 1010101 10101010 1010101 11101010 1110101 11101010 1110101 11111010 1010101 00101010 1111101 10100110 1110100 10101010 1010101 10101110 1001011 101010110 1010111 11111110 1010111 10111010 1010101 11111111 0011101 101010010 0010100 10100010 1011111 11101110 1010111
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1171
  • Average number of words per stanza: 227
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 28 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; knew, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Mothers' Excuses;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Edgar Albert Guest