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

True as the church clock hand the hour pursues
He plods about his toils and reads the news,... 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: aabbccbbaaddeeffgghhiiiiaaffaaggjjaakkggbbbbaajjaallllmmaallbbXlnnaaiiiiggjjbbiiggbbiikkXdiikkffgghhjjjj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 104,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11011101001 1101011101 11010101001 0101010101 1001010111 11110100101 0100110101 0100010101 1111000101 1101000011 11010111001 1111011001 1111010111 1101010101 1101111101 1111110101 1101010101 11110110101 1111011101 11011100101 1001010111 1001110011 1101010101 1111010111 1101011101 0100011101 1101010011 1001010111 1111010001 1111000101 1011000111 1111010001 1101011101 01010100001 11001010011 1111011101 11010010101 0111011101 1011011101 1011010101 1111110101 0111001101 1111011101 1111011101 1111010101 1101110111 11011100101 1111110101 11010010101 1101110101 1111010011 1101010001 0111010101 0111100101 0101010111 11001010101 1111110101 0101010001 1011011101 10001000101 1111111101 1101010111 01010101010 11010001110 1111000101 0101010101 1101010101 1101011101 1101111101 1101010011 1111010101 110111011 0100010101 01110101001 1111010001 0111011101 0101010101 1101000101 0101010101 1101010101 1101010101 1101111101 1001001101 1001010101 1100110101 1101000101 0101011101 1001010101 100110100100 1111010101 11111100101 11001110101 10011100101 01110101001 1111110001 1111011101 1001010101 1101011101 10101110111 1001110001 1001000101 1111010101 1101010101 1111010111
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 4497
  • Average number of words per stanza: 823
  • Amount of lines: 104
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; his, and, in, he, to are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Cottager;
  • 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 Clare