This is an analysis of the poem The Galley-Slave that begins with:

Oh gallant was our galley from her caren steering-wheel
To her figurehead of silver and her beak of hammered steel;... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aabb ccdd eeff ggcc hhXc ddii ffee aaee iibb bbhh hhiiXbbee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11011100010101 001010101010101 01110101111101 111010100110101 11110101110101 11010101010001 01110111011101 111010111110101 0110001011100111 011111101111111 111010101110101 101000101010101 11011101011001 11111101110001 11000101110101 111010101111111 11011111011101 01000111010001 10111010111110110 101111101110111 101110101010101 111010101010101 101110111010101 111011111111101 101110101010111 111010111010101 1110111001010101 101111101010101 101011101010101 101011111011101 11110101010101 111011101110101 111101010011 011011100010001 101010101011101 101010101010101 101111100111101 101111101010101 101100101010011 001111111110111 11101111010101 101110001110111 101110101010101 101110100111011 010110111110111 111111101110101 101110101110101 1011001101111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 256
  • Average number of words per stanza: 49
  • Amount of lines: 48
  • Average number of symbols per line: 63 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 12
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; galley, her, and, we, our, to, my, by, of, i are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Galley-Slave;
  • 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