The Same Old Story by James Whitcomb Riley: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Same Old Story that begins with:

The same old story told again--
The maiden droops her head,... 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: abcbdeXeaefedeceXgggaeXXXhahXXfX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 32,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01110101 010101 0100100101 0100001 0101001001 010001 11010111 011101 010010101 100011 11101101 100111 11111100 010101 1100010 1110101 0101010 110001 1101110 110001 1111010 010110 11101110 0111001 10101010 1010101 10101010 1010101 11110110 11010110 01011101 1110110
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 943
  • Average number of words per stanza: 175
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (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; her, his, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Same Old Story;
  • 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 Whitcomb Riley

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