This is an analysis of the poem The Amber Whale that begins with:

WE were down in the Indian Ocean, after sperm, and three years out;
The last six months in the tropics, and looking in vain for a spout,— ...

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aaaabbccddefggaaaahhiiffgghhjj Xgbbccddddkkffffllhhllaagghh llaaiiffaahXmmXjXa iilljXXehhaaiiaahhfX iigg aabbeeXXddhhaabbaaX aaddbXnnaaoollXgjjaa bbaaeelllXaaaabbbbiieeiihhllaaaaXiaaaX hhaaddaXiXXlhhjjll eebbllaahhmmhh jjaallhhllbbcchX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 30,28,18,20,4,19,20,38,18,14,16,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 10100100101011101 0111001011001101 111101011001011 1100110101101111 1001010101111 10010110100101 100110101010111 111011110110101001 010011010111100101 0111011111011101 1111011011100101 1111111111011111 011010010111100101 101011011100111 1100111010101001 101101111010101 0100111011101001 11101011100101101 111011011101111001 1010011010110101001 011010010011100111 111100100101101 1011101111100101 01010001011101101 111011011111101 100110110111101 01111111110100101 0111101001111101 1110111010111101 101011111010101 1101010111111100 110101101110111 001011101110101 1111111110110111 1010111101111111 111010101101011 0101100111100111 110101111110101 110110110100111 1011110111111101 10100111010100101 0101100101101001 11110010111001101 110010101111101 0101111101010111 111010010111111011 1100111100010111 11111010110111 0101101000100101 101111010011010101 1010010110111100101 11101101111110101 1111001011101001 0110111111111101 11111101011110101 101111110110101111 11010111110101 110010010111100101 11001001111010111 1011100100010101 110011101111001 0110110100110101 11110011101001001 011011101010101101 1101011100101011 1100101100100101 11111001011111111 101111101010101 1110101111100111 00111111011101010 1100111001100101 111010011111001001 1010101110000111 1011101110111111 1110111111100101 111100101101111 11111010101011101 1110101000101001 1111011011010101 11101011011110111 111001111111100111 101010101101001010 11110101011011111 111100101100111 0111001010111101 10011101101011 1111101101011110101 111101010001001001 10101110100111 11110101111010101 0101001111110111 10111101110111101 1111111011011101 1101111010110101 1011011101100111 1110111011111110 10111010111001001 110010100111001001 11001001111110101 1011101101110101 11111001001110101 11101001111001001 01011010111100111 11010010111011111 110111100111001001 1010010101110111 1001101111001011 100111101101011 1111110100110001 101010111111111 10100101001110101 101111011011100101 101101010111001 1110101111111011 1110111011110101 1110101011010100 011111111110101 010011101010111 110 111010111001 1011100101010101 11110010110101101 101010100110100111 111010010011111001 1011111101111110010 1110101010111101 110011111110110101 00101111011110101 1111011111111011 1011101011100101 1100101010101001 00101101011101101 11101011110101101 1011101001110100 110100101110111 1110101010110011 10110011010110101 11111111010010101 110111011110100101 1111111010101110 111110101110101 00101100111101001 1010110111110111 1111010011010111101 0100100101111001 00111011111110110 1011100111011101 111010101010101 1111101111111001 111100101010101 10111010011100111 011111100101001 1111101011100111 1111111111111101 11011110111111111 1110110111111111 10111001011101101 1110011101011011 11101110010101111 01111001010110101 10101110111110101 1111110111010001 1010111111111001 1110111111101001 110111101111101 0011101011111111 10101101011101001 10101101011111101 101110100010111 11101001011011101 10111001101010111 0010100101010110 101110110100111 11110101101101111 11001011100101001 101111101011101 10101101111100111 1111011101111001 001001101010101101 1110111011111001001 1111100110110111 101111100100111 11111101111011111 1101001110100101 00101111011100111 110010110011010111 00101101011111011 01111101011011111 11101001000101101 111010011111001001 11001011011101100 1101100101111100101 11110101111011111 11001111111100111 111010111111101 1110101001111101 111011110101111 11100101001101111 11101111100111101 11011011111110101 11101111011110101 1111011011001101 011110111110111 101010111111111 1011101011100101 10111010101001001 011011110010111 11111001000110001 1011101011110101 11111010110101111 11101111011010101 1011010010100101 111001111100101 111101101011101 1010100101110101 1010111010100101 11101111010100111 11111101111111 0110010011110101 11010011111100101 11101001011111101 0101001011101001 1010111010101001 0101011001111001 11101111010101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1452
  • Average number of words per stanza: 284
  • Amount of lines: 225
  • Average number of symbols per line: 70 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 14
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, in, to, of, for, that, oil, whales, as, we, every, ', it, he, out, his, at, or are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word 'and 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 ' is repeated).

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

  • summary of The Amber Whale;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by John Boyle O'Reilly