This is an analysis of the poem He Had His Dream that begins with:

He had his dream, and all through life,
Worked up to it through toil and strife....

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: aabbccddeE ffggggfXeE
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,10,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11011111 11001111 011000101 01011101 0111 0101 01110101 110101 0100100101 1101 11011111 01110101 01010101 11010101 1111 1111 11110001 110101 111100101 1101
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 294
  • Average number of words per stanza: 58
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word he is repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word dream at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of He Had His Dream;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar