This is an analysis of the poem The Dead Hand that begins with:

The witch lady walked along the strand,
Heard a roaring of the sea,...

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: abac dbdb eaea fbfc agag ahah aiaiXaafa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 011010101 1010001 10100110111 0110110 10110101 110111 110101101 111111 1010101001 00101101 11011101 111111 11011001 110111 01110101 1010110 11011101 111101 001111111 1110101 1011101 100111 110011111 1100101 10011101 0011101 1011100101 10100101 101001101001 111101 1011001011 11011001
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 137
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 34 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; crept, up, her are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words now, come, crept are repeated.

    The author used the same word she 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 The Dead Hand;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by George MacDonald