This is an analysis of the poem Give Us Barabbas that begins with:

There was a man-a Jew of kingly blood,
But of the people-poor and lowly born,...

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: ababcdcd XefeaXag fbXbhXhX cXcXgheX abXbcacX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101010101 1001011101 0101000111 0101010101 0101010011 1111010101 0100010101 0101110011 1011100101 1011000111 0111110011 1111011101 0100011101 1110010101 1101001101 01011000111 1111110001 1011010101 1110010101 1101110101 1101010011 10010010111 11110000101 1111110101 1101010101 0101110101 10010101001 11010101010 1110000011 1001010101 11010100101 01001100100 1101110101 0101011101 0100110100 1001110111 1011111001 0101010111 1101010101 011001001100
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 338
  • Average number of words per stanza: 61
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • 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; of, and, his are repeated.

    The author used the same word and 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 Give Us Barabbas;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Emily Pauline Johnson