This is an analysis of the poem Man's Civil War that begins with:

MY hovering thoughts would fly to heaven
And quiet nestle in the sky,... 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 adXd eXec cXXa Xfcf ebbb dgdgXabab
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 1100111010 11010001 11110101 01011101 11011101 01010101 11010111 010100101 110101001 111101010 01010001 10011101 110101001 11010110 11011001 11111001 110101101 11010100 11010101 11011101 11010101 11011101 11111001 1110101 11011101 011101001 11010101 11010101 110011101 11011101 11010101 11110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 147
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; to, with are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Man's Civil War;
  • 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 Southwell