This is an analysis of the poem Prologue, Spoken By Mr. Woods At Edinburgh that begins with:

WHEN, by a generous Public's kind acclaim,
That dearest meed is granted—honest fame;... 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: aabbXX ccddddbbeeaaffggbbffddhhbbaa eeiiggddd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,28,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11010010101 1101010101 1111000101 11001010101 11110100101 1101000101 1001010101 01110100101 1111010101 1101011101 11010011101 01110100001 110010100101 1101011101 0111010111 11010100101 0100110101 11011101101 11001010011 01010010101 1101111001 1101010101 11111100111 0101111101 1011010011 1101100101 1011110101 1101111101 11010100101 1001110001 1101010111 0100110101 1100011101 1100010111 111101100101 11010101001 11110101010 110010100010 1111010001 11001101001 1101000101 1111110101 110101110011
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 621
  • Average number of words per stanza: 108
  • Amount of lines: 45
  • Average number of symbols per line: 41 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Prologue, Spoken By Mr. Woods At Edinburgh;
  • 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