This is an analysis of the poem People Will Talk that begins with:

The following lines were written at the request of a little girl,
who said she would recite them at a Sunday School...

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: aaaXbX ccddE ddaaE ffbbE ggbbE hhggEXddeeE
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,5,5,5,5,11,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 01001010100100101 111101010111 101011010000110 01101001000100110 1010010011110101010 00110100100101 100100011 111101010111 1110111001 1101111001 11001 101001011101 1010101011 101011001 111110111 11001 0110100101 1111010111 1110101111 0110101000 11001 10110101111 110101101 10111110101 1100101101 11001 1011101101 1001011101 1111111111 10111011 11001 1111111011 1011011111 011011101 1110100001 11001
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 221
  • Average number of words per stanza: 43
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

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

    The poet repeated the same word talk 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 People Will Talk;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by James McIntyre