This is an analysis of the poem Song—lady Mary Ann that begins with:

O LADY Mary Ann looks o'er the Castle wa',
She saw three bonie boys playing at the ba',... 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: XXXa aaaa bbba Xcca ddda
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101011100101 1111110101 010110101001 1110111101 11011011101 1110100101 11011010101 11010110101 101011010001 110111101 101001001001 101000100101 11010101011 111011101 0110101101 10000110101 01001101101 1011101111 11101110101 11110111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 179
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 37 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; and is repeated.

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

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

    The poet repeated the same word yet 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 Song—lady Mary Ann;
  • 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