This is an analysis of the poem The Exile’s Secret that begins with:

YE that have faced the billows and the spray
Of good St. Botolph's island-studded bay,... 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: aabbccbbddeeffgghhccbbcc iiffeeffeeeejjeecc aaiXjjggjjffeekkgg cceelleeffccjjXejjmmffkkmmnnffddiioobbgg iibbppbbeeggcckki ifXiibbbbeehhgXooee ffiiff aaff eekk bbeenX mmjjqqaacXiinncc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 24,18,18,40,17,19,6,4,4,6,16,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1111010101 0011010101 1001011111 01001011101 111111100001 1101010101 0101011101 1101000101 1001010101 10011001001 1011011101 100010010101 0111010101 11110011101 1111010101 0111100011 0111110101 1101010101 1101110101 11110011101 1111011101 1001000101 0111110101 11010110101 1101010101 0101110111 010100011 010010010101 0101010101 1101110101 01010101001 1111110110 0111010101 11010100111 01110111101 1101011101 0101010101 0101000101 101101001001 1111111101 11010100101 1111010101 1101110101 0111010001 1111010001 1101010110 1101000111 11010010111 11110011101 1101011111 1101010101 1101010001 111110101 1001011101 11110010111 1101011101 1101110101 1101010101 1111110101 1001010111 11011100011 1101110111 1111010111 1101011101 1101010101 0101010101 0011000111 1011010101 11110101001 0110010111 11110100101 1011010101 0111010101 1101100101 0111000101 01010000101 0111010101 0111110101 0111011001 0101010101 1111010101 11010010101 0111110101 1101010101 1011010111 0101000101 0111010111 1011110111 0111000111 1101100101 1001110101 1011011101 01010010101 0101010101 1111011101 11010010111 1111010111 0111110101 11111110001 1111010111 1111010111 1011010011 0101010111 0111000111 1111010001 11001010101 1011010101 1101011111 11011101001 1111110101 1101110101 1011110101 1011010101 1001010111 1101010111 0111010101 1111110111 0111111111 01110101001 0111010100 1001111101 10110001001 0101010101 1011110101 1101010101 0111110101 0011010101 1111010101 1011010101 0111001101 11010101101 1101110110 1101010101 1101111001 1111010101 1011000111 1111011101 01011100101 1101010001 11110010001 1001011101 1111010101 10110100101 1011010101 1101010001 1111011111 1011010111 1101010101 1111110101 1101011101 1101010111 0101110101 1011100111 1001010001 1111110111 1101000101 1001010001 1111110111 1001010101 1111110101 1111011101 0101010101 1101010101 1111010111 1101011111 1101011101 0101010101 0111010111 01001010111 01010001101 1011110101 1101011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 656
  • Average number of words per stanza: 117
  • Amount of lines: 173
  • Average number of symbols per line: 45 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; of, in, his, and, with, or, he, we, ', her are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word but 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 Exile’s Secret;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes