This is an analysis of the poem Donica - A Ballad that begins with:

Author Note: In Finland there is a Castle which is called the New Rock, moated about with a river of unfounded depth, the water black and the fish... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: abcdc eeXffghia ijX ihiX hefe jaka figi jlel mXih igng alil aebe iolo mgeg iiai ljej pqdq kkik fpep eili jfXf ihe lhah meje igig ejij igig ggig ieie kiii hhnhXniei
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,9,3,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,3,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 101011100101010111001001000101010110101 1010000010001101011 100100100100111100 0100011110001000010 110101011011010010 00010011001101110101 001010101011101011 111011101111110 1001011011001010011 010101110010101111 100100010101011111001 11011111000011011 01001000110010101111 1001010111010110 010010010111011001 0010011000110010110 1110010110101 11011101 100101 01010101 0100100 01000101 110101 11010001 010111 010001001 010111 11011101 010101 10111101 011101 11011101 0100101 11010001 010111 010011001 010111 11011111 010100 011000101 110001 01010011 110111 10010101 111110 011111001 1100111 01000111 011101 11010111 111111 01010101 1100101 01001101 010101 11011101 1001001 01111101 010111 01010101 010101 110100101 0101001 10010111 1100101 11111101 011101 010010100 011100 11111101 110111 01111101 100101 1001000111 110001 110100101 010101 10110101 100111 10010100 010101 10010101 111111 10011101 110111 11010101 010001 110100110 010101 11010111 010111 11010101 11001001 010101 01010111 010101 01111101 011111 11110001 110111 011100101 110001 11010101 110101 10010100 110101 11010111 010100 11110101 111101 11010101 010101 11110101 110101 11000101 111101 11110101 110101 01010101 011001 11010101 010001 10111001 110111 11001111 010101 110000101 011001 11000101 100101 11010100 010111
  • Amount of stanzas: 33
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 146
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 133
  • Average number of symbols per line: 35 (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; of, in, she, and, that, to, as, her are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words the, and at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines was is repeated).

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

  • summary of Donica - A Ballad;
  • 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 Southey