This is an analysis of the poem On A Sea Wall that begins with:

I sit upon the old sea wall,
And watch the shimmering sea,...

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: abacab deXede fgfgfg dhihih babacaXfefefe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010111 1101001 11110111 100100 111101001 011101 01010101 110111 1111110110 111101 11110101 111111 01110111 111101 01010111 110101 11010101 111101 10110111 111101 011101110 110101 010101010 0101011 11010101 110101 110110111 110111 11011100 110101 11011111 110111 111110101 110101 10011101 010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 189
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (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; and is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word the is 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 On A Sea Wall;
  • 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