This is an analysis of the poem The Ballad Of Fisher's Boarding-House that begins with:

That night, when through the mooring-chains
The wide-eyed corpse rolled free,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: abXXXb cdcded bdfdgd XdXdhd gIeICI ajXbXb XbgXcb ciXiji kagadX hgXgag XbgbCb gIfICI XhbhiX egXgXg XakaXa aheXbh XXedCdXgIeICI
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 11110101 011111 01011101 11110 01010101 011101 111010101 110101 11010101 010001 11001111 1100011 11010101 110101 11010101 010101 11111101 111111 11110111 011111 11110100 010001 11011011 010111 11110111 110101 11010101 011001 01010101 110101 11111001 110010 11110101 110101 11011101 110011 11110100 0111001 11010101 11110 11010101 010001 110100111 100101 01000100 010111 01010100 110101 11010101 110110 01111111 010100 11111111 010100 11011101 110111 11010111 110101 110100101 110111 11011111 010001 11110101 1100101 01010101 111111 11110111 110101 11010101 011001 01010101 110101 101010100 1010111 1011000101 1010111 1010100101 10100100 11010101 110101 1010101000 111101 0101111100 110101 11010100 010101 01011101 011101 11111101 010101 0101001001 010111 1011000101 1010010 101100101 1010111 101010011 101110100 01010101 1101001 01010101 110101 11110111 110101 110100101 011001 01010101 110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 187
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 109
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (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; and is repeated.

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

    The author used the same words they, and 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 Fisher's Boarding-House;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Rudyard Kipling