The Daft Days by Hew Ainslie: poem analysis

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

The midnight hour is clinking, lads,
An' the douce an' the decent are winking, lads; ... 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: aabXac ccccc cddc cceecXccbbc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,5,4,11,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 011100101 10110101101 111101 111110 0110101101 11111101 10111111101 111111 110111 10100111101 01010110101 11111110101 111111 101101 1110101101 1111111101 1101101101 111101 001001 0110110101 111100101 1110101101 111011 01101 0111101101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 183
  • Average number of words per stanza: 35
  • Amount of lines: 25
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (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; your, kate, to are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines lads, kate are repeated).

    The poet repeated the same word kate 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 Daft Days;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Hew Ainslie

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