This is an analysis of the poem The Men We Might Have Been that begins with:

When God's wrath-cloud is o'er me,
Affrighting heart and mind; ... 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: ababacaC dedefcfC agagbcbc hdhdhchc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11110101 100111 1111011 111101 1111111 111111 1101011 011110 1111010 110101 0110010 010101 0101010 110001 0101110 011110 0111011 010111 0110111 111101 1111110 111101 1111110 011110 1110010 011101 1101010 011101 1101010 010111 1101010 011110
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 241
  • Average number of words per stanza: 45
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (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; his, me are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word been at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of The Men We Might Have Been;
  • 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