This is an analysis of the poem Bird Songs that begins with:

The birds are happy, singing all day through
Their little psalms of praise,... 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: abaaab cdcccd efeeXf egeeeg hdhhhd XXbbbe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 0111010111 110101 1101010111 0101010101 0111101101 1101 11011111 0111 11010100101 1101010001 1111011101 10111 110101101 0111 1001011101 1011011101 100110011110 110101 1001110101 1101 0101111101 1011000111 1011111101 1110 0111011111 1111 1111110111 1101001101 01010110101 011101 01110111100 0100 11100100101 0111111101 0100011011 110110
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 215
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • 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; thy, and, for, or are repeated.

    The author used the same word the 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 Bird Songs;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Martha Lavinia Hoffman