This is an analysis of the poem The Family's Homely Man that begins with:

There never was a family without its homely man,
With legs a little longer than the ordinary plan,...

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: aabbccaadd eeffccgg eebbaaddXffffgg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,8,15,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11010100010101 01010101010101 101011111110101 11111101011101 01010101011111 011010100010101 11010100010111 11010101011101 01010101110011 01011100110111 11110101110001 111100100011111 11111111011101 11010101010101 010011111110111 11010111011101 11010101110001 11001101111101 110100100010101 11101111010101 11110101110101 11111100111111 11010101010001 11010101110110 11110101111101 11000101111101 11100101110001 01010101110101 11011111010101 11011100110101 010010001011111 01010101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 474
  • Average number of words per stanza: 90
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 58 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; an', and, they, he, to are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Family's Homely Man;
  • 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