This is an analysis of the poem True Friendship that begins with:

Friendship, thou balm for ev'ry ill,
I must aspire to thee; ... 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: abaab acXac dcddc efeef afaaf dcXdc ghgghXbfbbf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,5,5,5,5,5,11,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10111101 110101 11010101 11010101 110101 10000101 110101 11010110 11010101 110101 10010101 010001 11110101 01000101 010001 10110101 110001 11110101 01010101 111111 10110101 010101 11011101 10111101 110101 11110111 111101 11110100 01010101 110101 10110101 010001 10010101 11010101 100101 10010101 010101 01011101 11010111 110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 162
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, when, nor are repeated.

    The author used the same word friendship 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 True Friendship;
  • 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 Moses Horton