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

WHO of all statesmen is his country's pride,
Her councils' prompter and her leaders' guide?... 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: aabbccccddeeffggaabbaahhiiffddcceggbbaaggjjkkaabX ddbbXdaXccjjllffll dXaaaa dX ccddccmm
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 49,18,6,2,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1011000101 0101010101 1101010101 1111011101 11010101001 10110001001 0011010101 1011011101 1101010101 0001010001 0101010111 11011110001 11111100011 1111011101 0101010101 1101010101 10110010101 1001110101 1011010101 10110011111 1111110101 1101010101 000101010010 010100001010 0101010101 1101110101 0101110101 11010010101 1011110101 1101010001 01110101001 1111000101 0001 110101 1101010101 01110101001 0111010111 1101011101 1101110101 1001010101 1101110101 1101111101 0101010101 0111011101 01001000101 0101010101 1101010101 1101101101 01110111010 1101110101 01010101001 1101010001 01001110111 1001111110 1101011101 1011010101 1111011001 01001110101 11110110101 1101011101 1101111101 1111000101 11010010111 1011011001 0101011101 1111101111 0101010101 1101000101 1111010111 1001000101 0101010111 01001010101 1111011111 11110101101 1101111101 1101110101 1101001001001 1101010101 110100100101 11011111001 1101010101 1101000101 01010000101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 617
  • Average number of words per stanza: 109
  • Amount of lines: 84
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; her, to, his, as, he are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Statesman’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