This is an analysis of the poem My Literary Friend that begins with:

Once I wrote a little poem which I thought was very fine,
And I showed the printer’s copy to a critic friend of mine,... 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: aabb aacc ddcc eeffXbbcc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 111010101111101 111010100010101 111010101110101 0010101101010101 111010101110001 111001100110101 10101101011111 111010101010001 111110101010101 111011101110101 001011101111101 0110101000101111 1111100101111101 111010101010101 111001100110111 001010101111101 1010111101110001 01110100010101 1110111011110001 0111111100010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 241
  • Average number of words per stanza: 49
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 60 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 12
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; he, i, little, it, you, and, d are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words it, and are repeated.

    The author used the same word so 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 My Literary Friend;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Henry Lawson