This is an analysis of the poem Old And New that begins with:

Long have the poets vaunted, in their lays,
Old times, old loves, old friendships, and old wine... 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: abab cdcd eded fafa ghgh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101010011 1111110111 1101100011 110111 1111110111 11101101001 11000110101 110101 1111110001 1101110101 1101010111 110111 11111001001 0101110101 1101101111 110011 1011111111 11110101001 1101110001 110011
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 167
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 41 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; old, and are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word give 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 Old And New;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox