This is an analysis of the poem On Receiving An Eagle's Quill From Lake Superior that begins with:

All day the darkness and the cold
Upon my heart have lain,... 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: abcb deae fgfg XbXX bhdh hibi fbdb bhXh efff ifhf fcbc Xeae baXa fbfb bcfc haea faba aaXa bjajXhfcf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010101 011111 11110101 110101 11110101 111101 11110101 110101 01110101 011101 11110101 010111 11011101 011111 110101010 010101 110111001 110101 011100101 1100101 11011101 110101 010100001 010001 11011101 010101 1100100101 010101 11010001 011001 010001001 0100101 11010101 0101001 11101101 110101 01011101 010111 11011111 0111001 11010101 010100 01110111 110101 010001001 110111 01000101 010001 111100101 010111 010100001 010101 110010111 011001 110100101 0100101 01010101 110101 11010101 110001 11011101 1100111 11110111 110101 11001101 110101 11110111 110101 11000101 1100111 11010101 1100111 01110101 111101 01010101 011001 11010101 110111 01100101 110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 20
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 121
  • Average number of words per stanza: 22
  • Amount of lines: 80
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; of, its are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word i 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 On Receiving An Eagle's Quill From Lake Superior;
  • 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 Greenleaf Whittier