This is an analysis of the poem The Lament Of The Border Cattle Thief that begins with:
O woe is me for the merry life
I led beyond the Bar,... full text
Elements of the verse: questions and answers
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- Rhyme scheme: abaX XcdX Xcec XdXd fXfc gcgX bhbh icic XbhX jeje cdcX kckc
- Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
- Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
- Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
- Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
- Guessed form: ballad stanza
- Metre: 110110101 110101 1010111101 111100 1110011110 111101 111000101 110001 01110101 011101 1100101110 111101 11110101 111101 110010101 111101 01010101 010101 01010111 110111 11010101 011111 11110101 1100101 110011101 010011 01111111 111101 110011101 110101 11111111 110101 11110100 11000101 11111101 110110 01111111 1111010 01111111 0111010 11111111 111101 10111100101 10100101 101101101 1111101 1111100111 111001
- Amount of stanzas: 12
- Average number of symbols per stanza: 129
- Average number of words per stanza: 26
- Amount of lines: 48
- Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
- 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, lie, war are repeated.
The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words the, and are repeated.
The author used the same word for 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 Lament Of The Border Cattle Thief;
- central theme;
- idea of the verse;
- history of its creation;
- critical appreciation.
Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!
Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.
More information about poems by Rudyard Kipling
- Analysis of The Ballad Of Fisher's Boarding-House
- Analysis of The Last Chantey
- Analysis of The Liner She's A Lady
