This is an analysis of the poem Strict Joy that begins with:

To-day i felt as poor O’Brien did
When, turning from all else that was not his,...

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: abcdXa eaad fgXXch hidgjf iakdXk jggfeh dehbbb acgaXjcdgdhjXajcbbh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,4,6,6,6,6,6,19,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0111110100 1100111110 1101011101 1110011101111 1110111 0101101011 11011101011001 0101011001010110 1101010111 11101110110111100100 1110010111 10110101100 11010011101 0111011101 1111000101 1101011100 0111011001 101001010 1100100111 1101010001 1101010100 1111011101 1101000101 1101011101 1101110101 1111111100 0101110101 111001111 1111000100 1100011111 1011110101 1111110101 111111101 0101011100 1111100101 1101111101 1111001100 1111010111 1001111101 1101110011 10011011011 1001011101 10010110101 10101111000 10101111100 10100100100 1011110011 1011011100 10111011001 1111000111 1111000101 111100100 1111110101 1100010100 111101010101 1101110111 1111110101 1100110100
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 283
  • Average number of words per stanza: 54
  • Amount of lines: 58
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; to, he, his, and, in, they, lonely, seeing, that, all, told are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Strict Joy;
  • 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 Stephens