This is an analysis of the poem The Ports Of The Open Sea that begins with:

Down here where the ships loom large in
The gloom when the sea-storms veer,... 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: ababacacdedeffe XdddgcgC Xhahgcgc ieieXbgb ddXdjcjc gkgkdldl XedejcjC dmXmicic
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 15,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11101110 0110111 11101110 0010101 101001110 1010111 11001010 10100101 101101110 00100111 101001110 00111001 101101010 10111010 10100111 10100111 10101101 101001110 00100111 1010001110 10100110 101001010 10100101 10101110 10100111 101001110 11100101 10111110 1100110 10111010 10100101 1101110 110111 1101010 110111 1001110 110101 101111010 1110111 10111111 0010001 10111110 1011111 10101010 1011101 10101110 00100101 11101110 0100111 11101110 010111 1001010 1110111 101001110 1100101 101001110 0100101 10111110 1100111 11111110 0110110 01001010 10100101 11001010 111111 10101010 110101 0101110 110111 10101010 0100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 307
  • Average number of words per stanza: 59
  • Amount of lines: 72
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; by, of, and are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word sea 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 Ports Of The Open Sea;
  • 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