This is an analysis of the poem The Contrast, A Winter Night's Dream that begins with:

On a rough winter's night, when the stormy winds blew,
'Till the tiles from the top of my lone dwelling flew. ... 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: aaXbccddee ffccgghhggbXggffddeebbbbbXccddffeeeeffddiiggiijjffbbggcciiaabXeebbeebbddggddccggaaiXeebb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,88,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 101101101011 101001011101 101111011010 011001001101 11101101101 101101001001 111101101101 01001001001 110011001001 11101111011 11111011101 01001010001 1100101011 111001001001 101001011111 101011001001 101001001011 1001001101001 110100101001 01001101101 01001001001 11101001101 111001111001 101011001101 111101111011 11011101001 11111101111 101011011101 11011001001 11101101101 10101111011 101011111011 101011110010010 1011010010010 11001100111 1011110010100 1100100111 100110100101 101111001001 10100100101 11001110001 101011101101 111001111001 11011111101 1111100101 101101011101 111001111011 01001001101 1111100101 11001101001 111001001001 11011001101 101011001111 001001101111 11101101101 011001101001 11101001001 11110001011 1100111101 1110111111 01001011001 101001101001 01101101011 10101001101 11111011011 01101001001 0101111101 11101101111 111101001101 101001001001 111001001101 111111101010 111101101001 11101101001 11110111011 101001001001 111001001101 1111001011 10101110101 101010111001 101011010101 001001001001 1111111111001 110011101 10100101001 011111101001 111011111101 11111001011 11101110101 10111111111 11001011001 101101011011 101011001101 1100100101 101101001101 11011111111 111111111001 001111001011
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 2408
  • Average number of words per stanza: 452
  • Amount of lines: 98
  • Average number of symbols per line: 48 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; i, of, as, her, and, on, he, his are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Contrast, A Winter Night's Dream;
  • 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 Bradford