Poem Analysis of The Old Magic by Edith Nesbit for close reading

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

Gray is the sea, and the skies are gray;
They are ghosts of our blue, bright yesterday;... full text

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: abcc aadd XXdd baee
Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,
Closest metre: iambic pentameter
Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
Сlosest stanza type: tercets
Guessed form: blank verse
Metre: 100110111 1110111101 1110100111 110101101 10110100111 111011101 111100111 111100100 1010110101 001010110 10101011001 010100101 1011101101 00110100111 1010111101 01001001001
Amount of stanzas: 4
Average number of symbols per stanza: 170
Average number of words per stanza: 34
Amount of lines: 16
Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
Average number of words per line: 8
Mood of the speaker:
The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.
The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; gray, white, and, of are repeated.
The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is repeated.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.

The Old Magic by Edith Nesbit: poem analysis

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

More information about poems by Edith Nesbit