This is an analysis of the poem General Gordon, The Hero Of Khartoum that begins with:

Alas! now o'er the civilised world there hangs a gloom
For brave General Gordon, that was killed in Khartoum,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aabb ccdd eeee ffga gggg aahh dddd Xhii jjff hhhh eeff ffaa aagg ffee gaffXeeee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 011100100011101 1110010111011 11010101010001 1010010001011 1110101010011 0100101101 11001110101 110010111011 110110111101 01010111101 1010011101 1100100111111 1111010101 11110101101 10111001111 0111111100 1001010111011 01011010101011 10101101101011 10101011101001 11010110010011 1100010101 110010111101 110010111 10100101001001 11010101110111 111111110101 101001101111101 0111010101010100 1111001010101 10111010100001 110101001011 11100101001011 111001110101 111010001111001 10101101001 111000100101 100110111 0111011001 10111111011 11111001010101 1011101011001 111111010010101 1011010001101 0101010101011 10100101101 11100011110101 1011011011 10110101001011 111010101101 11010100101100 1101011110001 110100110011101 101111101011101 1010010101111 101001000010111 110101101 10100010100111 11110101010001 110111110101 110100010001 11101001110101 1100110101 11010010111111
  • Amount of stanzas: 16
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 206
  • Average number of words per stanza: 39
  • Amount of lines: 64
  • Average number of symbols per line: 51 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 10
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

    The author used the same words he, but at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines khartoum is repeated).

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of General Gordon, The Hero Of Khartoum;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Max Plowman