This is an analysis of the poem The Ballad Of The Leather Medal that begins with:

Only a Leather Medal, hanging there on the wall,
Dingy and frayed and faded, dusty and worn and old;...

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 XXcd Xccc efef gaga cgcX ehXh gigi jaja ebeb bkbX gkgk ljlj mfmf Xngn okok dcdX kckc gXgg cmcm ecec mbmb bcbX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1001010101101 1011110101111 10110101100101 11101011001110101 100101100100101 11010011100101100 1101101111101011 1101110101010100 101110101101101 10010010100111 101110000100111 11011001010101101 011011101011001 01001010001011011 010011100110101 1100101001101101 110010101111011 110111001101011 111110101111101 111110111111101 10100110101011 01010110101101 1001110100101 1100100101100110 110110100100111 001111010110100101 0101110011101110 10111010100101 10110100101001 010101111101001 010010101100111 1011010010111 11110110111011 11110110010101011 11111011011001001 110101101101111 1101110100101 1101111011101001 111110111011001 11011100100101 101110101101001 101010010111101 100101101111101 1011110010010 010010110101101 10110110100111 1101101001001011 110100110101101 111110111101111 101111011001101 111011101111 11101010100101 001111110110101 10011101110111 10110100100101 10110110100101 11110010110110100 01010101010111 11111100100101101 1001010101011 11011010111011 01100101100111 101101100100111 1001110100101 11110101011101 10101101100011001 10111110111101 10010101001000 010111101111101 1111101100101111 010110101111001 11101011101100 01001110111011 11001101011011111 0101111100111001 111100101101001 1101001011100101 1101101011101101 101011010101001 110110101100101 10101110111110011 01101001010001101 110010010111111 0101011111011001 110011101101001 11010011111001101 1010111011001001 010011100110111 01011011101101 111010101101011 110100101111101 10110111111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 24
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 245
  • Average number of words per stanza: 45
  • Amount of lines: 93
  • Average number of symbols per line: 63 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, of, i, as, it, my, her, she are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word a 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 Ballad Of The Leather Medal;
  • 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 William Service