This is an analysis of the poem The Puritans' Christmas that begins with:

Their only thought religion,
What Christmas joys had they,... 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: abcX Xcdc Xefe Xege fggg aaXa gghg hhdh Xfhf ggXg XbXb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101010 110111 01110101 110101 0110010 1100001 01110100 1101001 1111110 111101 01011101 011101 1101010 111101 11000111 011101 111111 110001 11110101 110101 0101010 101101 001010100 110100 0101110 110111 010011010 100111 0101010 110001 01000100 1100111 1100010 110111 11010101 010101 1101110 110111 11110101 110111 1111010 110111 11011101 111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 117
  • Average number of words per stanza: 21
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 28 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

    The author used the same words a, for 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 Puritans' Christmas;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Madison Julius Cawein