This is an analysis of the poem Epistle To A Young Friend that begins with:

I lang hae thought, my youthfu' friend,
A something to have sent you, ... 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: aXaXbcbc adadeaXa XaXXfafa ghgheiei jXXXcccc kekecbcb jhjXlele mhmhnXnn XhXhlala babaXhXh oboXXhXh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 11111101 0100111 10111101 1101100 11001111 1111010 01011101 0111010 1101111 1101011 11111101 1101111 11110111 111101 11111101 110101 11111101 011010 11111101 1001100 11111101 1100010 010100101 0101010 11110101 1111010 11100101 1100110 01110101 1101011 01110101 1111011 11111101 1101010 11110010 1101010 01101111 1100010 11110101 1101010 01011111 1000010 110110101 1101010 11010101 0100010 11010101 1100010 01110101 0101010 11011101 1101110 11010001 1101010 110100100 0101010 01110101 0101010 11111101 1110110 01010101 1011100 11010101 0101010 01010001 1101010 11010110 1101010 11010101 0100010 110010101 1100010 110101001 0101010 10110101 0101010 11111101 0101010 01010111 0101010 01110001 1111010 11010111 0111100 01011111 1100110 11110101 11001010
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 255
  • Average number of words per stanza: 44
  • Amount of lines: 88
  • 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; your, for are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words perhaps, a are 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 Epistle To A Young Friend;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Robert Burns