This is an analysis of the poem A Story that begins with:

In a gleam of sunshine a gentian stood,
Dreaming her life away,... 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 bcXc dbdb dede aeae fgfg chchXadad
  • 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: 0010110101 100101 1011100101 1110111 1100111101 10101101 1110100101 1010101 101101101 110101 110100101 00100101 11010101 1010111 1110100101 100101 100100101 10101101 111010111 10101101 11111001010 1101001 01011001010 11100101 11100101 110110 11101101 111101 11100111 0101101 010100101 0111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 137
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (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; and is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of A Story;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Rose Terry Cooke