This is an analysis of the poem The Shadow that begins with:
Mother, mother, what is that gazing through the darkness?
What is that that looks at me with its awful eyes?... 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: ababa X cdXdc X efefe X beXeb g ehehe g ijiji XXcgcgc
- Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,1,5,1,5,1,5,1,5,1,5,7,
- Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
- Сlosest rhyme: rima
- Сlosest stanza type: tercets
- Guessed form: unknown form
- Metre: 1010101101010 101111100101 1110100101010 101010100101 1011101100010 1 1111101101011 101111110101 1111101100110 111101110101 1011111001011 1 1010101101111 101110111101 1111101110111 101010111101 1100101111111 1 1111101101110 1010011110101 1111111101110 111110110101 1011111001110 1 1010111101111 001011110101 1111100001011 1011101110111 1010101101011 1 1111101101110 110011111101 1001101101110 111110110101 1001101011110 1 0111011101011 1111100111101 1110111111111 111101111001 1011101011011
- Amount of stanzas: 13
- Average number of symbols per stanza: 152
- Average number of words per stanza: 29
- Amount of lines: 41
- Average number of symbols per line: 47 (strings are more long than medium ones)
- Average number of words per line: 9
Mood of the speaker:
There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.
The speaker asks many questions. Perhaps, he or she is in confusion.
The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; mother, me, that, what, child, my, and, round, no, now, it, he are repeated.
If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:
- summary of The Shadow;
- central theme;
- idea of the verse;
- history of its creation;
- critical appreciation.
Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!
Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.
