This is an analysis of the poem At Ithaca that begins with:

Over and back,
the long waves crawl ...

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: Abcdeee AaeeffXc gbXbhihXc iihhgcceefgg dXXbbeegbXXidd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 7,8,9,12,14,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1011 0111 110101 110101 1111001 011111 111101 1011 010111 101111 101101 111101 1111001 111000 110001 1101 110011 1101010 110101 111101 110101 0101101 010011 011101 011101 110101 100111 111111 100100 010101 1001011 111111 111101 011111 111100 110001 111111 111100 100111 010101 10111 100111 111101 0100101 110101 110111 110101 111101 110111 110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 263
  • Average number of words per stanza: 49
  • Amount of lines: 50
  • Average number of symbols per line: 25 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, that, i, see are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word over 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 frame is repeated).

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

  • summary of At Ithaca;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Hilda Doolittle