This is an analysis of the poem Elegy that begins with:

The little waves fall in the wintry light
On idle sands along the bitter shore.... 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: abab cdcd eaea fgfg abab hihi jcjc aeae egeg kjkX hghg elel
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0101100101 1101010101 010111010101 11011111 11010010101 01001110111 0101110010111 1011110101 0001110111 0111010011 011001010011 10110101 100010111 1101110101 1001001000101 11110011 01101110001 1100011101 111001010101 10111101 11000010100 10101010111 110101010110 1100100101 11010110101 1101111101 100101111101 1010110101 110010010001 1101010101 110101010101 101000101 1101110101 10110111111 110011010101 11111101 1111100111 0101010101 010101001111 101001100 0111011110 0111110111 010101110101 101111001 0111010011 0100110101 0101001010001 11011001
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 172
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 48
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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, of, to are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, that, the are repeated.

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

  • summary of Elegy;
  • 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 Laurence Binyon