This is an analysis of the poem Thunderchild's Lament that begins with:

WHEN the years grew worse, and the tribe longed sore
For a kinsman bred to the white man's lore,... 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: aabX ccdd eeaX ffbX gghh iihh eegg aabX bX ff gggg aaaa ffjj eebb ffXb kkjj bXgg hhaa Xb hhXffjj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,2,2,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,2,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1001110111 1011100111 001011111 001011011 001011011 1111100101 1011111011 0011110101 11011101111 1100101101 10011100111 11101111110 101011110 0010110101 1100111111 001011011 101011111 111110111 101011111 1110111101 110101111 110110111 100111101 11110110101 00111101001 011110111 11101001011 11101001101 110110101 111011111 11110111101 1010011110 001011111 001110011 0010110101 1010111110 11101101011 0101111111 10011101 1011111101 111111101 1100110111 1111100111 0110100111 110101111 11111101 110111111 101110101 1111110111 0010101111 1111010111 1111111101 01011110 001111111 111010011 1010010101 011100101 011111111 101001101011 10100111001 101011111 001110011 101011101 100111101 111110111 1011110110 1111101101 1010011101 001110011 101010111 01111101 1100111001 010111101 1010101111 111111101 0110100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 21
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 158
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 78
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to, my, i, not are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word the 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 Thunderchild's Lament;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Edward William Thomson