This is an analysis of the poem To My Old Friend, William Leachman that begins with:

Fer forty year and better you have been a friend to me,
Through days of sore afflictions and dire adversity,... 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: aXbb cccc XddX aacc eecc eeaX aadd ffXX ggff bbhh aaaa XXXX ccbX bbff Xeii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11011101100101 11010101100100 1101011010001 111010100010011 111011101010011 10101010111100 111111101110001 11111101111101 1111101011100111 101011101100101 101110101010101 101011101000100 11111101011101 11111101111111 1011101010101001 1110010111010011 11110111111101 101010100010101 101010100010101 101010100110001 101011111111111 111011101111101 111010100111111 110001101110101 101110101110111 11011101110000 111101000111001 01110101110111 011010101111111 001111101110111 111011111011110 110011001110101 11110101010101 001111101110111 10110111110101 01001101001101 111011111010101 111010111110101 001111111110101 11010101010001 101111110010011 11110000010101 111110011011101 101010101001111 110101011101001 11100101110101 111011101011101 110101010101100 101111101010101 11110101111111 1111111110101 101011100110110 11101010111111 11111111111111 11010101011101 11011101110111 001011101010111 11010101010011 11110111110111 101010101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 15
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 243
  • Average number of words per stanza: 47
  • Amount of lines: 60
  • Average number of symbols per line: 60 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 12
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; of, to, i, you, had, and, my, me, as, we, in, thare, road are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words and, thare at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

  • summary of To My Old Friend, William Leachman;
  • 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