The Cliffs by Henry Lawson: poem analysis

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

They sing of the grandeur of cliffs inland,
But the cliffs of the ocean are truly grand;... 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 ccdd eeff aagg ffdd aahh ddii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1100010111 10100101101 1110101111 10110101111 0010110111 111101101 110100111 10110101101 110100101 10110101111 101110101 10110101111 110111101 11101001001 11101001110 11110111110 1011110111 110101101 1111111111 00111111101 1011110111 1111111111 1011110111 1111111111 1101100101 1111111111 1111110111 1101110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 176
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 28
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, of, cliffs, they, i, me, think are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Cliffs;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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