A Shining Ship by Harry Kemp: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem A Shining Ship that begins with:

Have you ever seen a shining ship
Riding the broad-backed wave,...

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: abcb XdXd Xefe Xgag ffXf dcfc fhXh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 111010101 100111 101010111 010101 1110100101 110001 01110101 100111 011110111 111101 10010101 010101 110101001 1101010 011100101 1101010 11010101 111101 01011111 010011 11010011 010111 00111101 111101 10110101 110101 01010101 101101
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 127
  • Average number of words per stanza: 23
  • Amount of lines: 28
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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 author used the same word have 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 A Shining Ship;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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