This is an analysis of the poem The Complaints Of The Poor that begins with:

And wherefore do the Poor complain?
The rich man asked of me,--... 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: abcb dcec afcf cbcX cccc Xcfc afXf gece cbbb dbdb fgdgXabab
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110010101 011101 11010111 110101 11010101 010001 11011101 111001 11111101 010111 11111001 011101 11010111 11111011 11111101 011100 11011101 111111 11011001 1010111 11010111 111101 11110111 010111 11010101 010101 11010101 1010101 110111001 1010111 11011101 110101 11110101 010101 11100101 110101 11010111 110101 10010101 010101 11011101 110101 01011101 110111 11100111 110011 11110101 111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 120
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 48
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (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; and, he, her are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word i 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 The Complaints Of The Poor;
  • 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