This is an analysis of the poem The Three Horses that begins with:

What shall I be?-I will be a knight
Walled up in armour black,...

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: ababab cbcbcb dedede fgfgfg eheheh acacac aiaiai ajajaj efefef akakak gcgcgc XaiaiX dadada hhhhhh lelele mnmnmn oioioi eaeaea lalala mgmgmg mbmbmb cacaca XfkXkf egegeg pdpdpd qaqaqX ocococ ocococ iXidiX cccccc eaeaeaXmememe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 111010001 110101 00101001001 1011011 111111001 0011101 10111111 101101 11010001 10101011 11110001 110101 111111111101 10100111 10100101 0101101 1110101001 110101 11100101 100101 10011111 111001 100101011 11011 11011011 1010011 0010011101 10100101 0010010101 1101101 11100101 0101101 11111001 11100101 0100100101 101000101 0101101101 10100101 10101100101 0111111 111100101 0100101 1011101 1011111 0101100111 0111011 100111101 011111 0101111101 10101111 11101101 0110101 010011111 10101101 110010101 1100101 11010011 1100111 010011101 1110111 011010101 0011101 110010101 10101111 01011001 1101001 011101100 111111 110101101 111101 010100111 110110 1011011111 011111 111111101 10110101 1010010101 1010101 100011111 0101111 1010010101 0111101 0010011111 110111 111100101 0010111 110010101 1110101 110011111 010101 100100101011 10010101 111101101 1100111 100101111 1111111 11100111 0111011 11001001001 0101111 111101111 0010101 111101101 111001 101100101 0111011 001011111 1110101 1101110001 111101 100101001 1101001 11110111 1111101 11111111 011111 1011100101 111111 111011110 0110101 11110101 11111 11110111 1100101 1101101001 1010101 110010101 110101 010111101 1010011 0100100101 0110101 011100110 100111 0100111011 100111 010101011 0110101 11110101 110101 010110101 00101101 00100110111 1001001 101101101101 1010111 011100101 1011101 0010110101 101101 010101011 11100101 10110101 11111011 110111111 1101101 1100100101 0101101 0111001011 1100101 111100111 1010101 110011111 1100111 111110101 1010101 111101111 100111 0101101101 1100101 1110100101 0110111 010101001 1101100 010111101 1101110 010011101 11101010 101010101 10101010 101101111 110101 010110011 1101011 1111111001 1110101 1111001001 110111 1110000101 0100111 1110111001 100111
  • Amount of stanzas: 32
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 205
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 192
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; my, and, him, let, on, of, not, no, for, thy are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words the, when, not, no, a are repeated.

    The author used the same word oh 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 Three Horses;
  • 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