This is an analysis of the poem Voices Of The Night : Midnight Mass For The Dying Year that begins with:

Yes, the Year is growing old,
And his eye is pale and bleared!... 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: aXaaX bcbcc dedeX dfdff ghghb ijijc XcXcX adadf XfXfX hfhXa kiXii kikiXX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1010101 10101110 1010111 1011101 1010 0111010 10011 1101110 000101 0101 1111010 011101 11101010 1011011 11 10101110 1110101 1101101 1111101 101 11100110 010111 101101010 11101 0101 1101011 101101 01011011 1011011 1011 0010111 0011011 001110101 111111 11111 1101101 100101 1100101 100101 1111 110111 10101001 1010111 0010001 1101 1101101 1001101 0110101 011000 011 1110010 101101 10111100 111101 10101 111101001 1100101 10101011 1110101 1100 1100
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 142
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 61
  • Average number of symbols per line: 27 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

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

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

    The author used the same word then at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines woe, vain, eleyson are repeated).

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

  • summary of Voices Of The Night : Midnight Mass For The Dying Year;
  • 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 Wadsworth Longfellow