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

For ages on our river borders,
These tassels in their tawny bloom,... 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 abdb cebe fdcd dgXg efaf Xehe chah addd dbXb aiXi XbXb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 110111010 11001101 1100101010 110100101 110100110 11001101 101100010 11011100 110101010 11010111 010001010 11001101 110101110 01010101 101110010 01010101 110101110 01011101 111001010 01000111 001001111 01011101 010101111 11010101 100101010 01001111 010101110 110111011 110101010 01011111 111111010 11111100 011101010 00110101 010111011 01010101 110101110 11011101 110101110 01000101 1100111010 110100111 110100110 11110111 110001110 10110111 110001110 0110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 143
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 48
  • Average number of symbols per line: 35 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is repeated.

    The author used the same words for, and 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 The First Flowers;
  • 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