This is an analysis of the poem The Merchantmen that begins with:

King Solomon drew merchantmen,
Because of his desire... 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: abcXaaXa AdAd defedgfg dfcXehfh bfafdiji XeXeXkbk lflfbafa djejXflf XabaXddd XgXgafaf deeefjdj eiXiefkfXAaAa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,4,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11001100 0100010 11111100 010101 01010100 110101 11010100 110101 10111011101 10111110111 11111111101 110111101101 1111010 011101 1111110 011101 0101010 010101 110001001 110101 1111110 111111 11111100 011100 1111110 110001 11010101 110111 1101010 110111 00101010 0010101 11011001 010101 1100010 1110101 1101010 010101 1101010 0010111 11001010 110101 1111010 0011001 0111010 111111 1101110 110111 1111110 110111 1101010 110101 1101011 111101 01101110 111111 1101011 111101 1101010 110101 1101110 110111 1111010 011111 1101110 011101 11111101 110111 1101010 010101 1101010 110101 1101011 110111 1111010 111101 1111001 010101 1101110 110011 1101010 010111 0111011 0010011 1111010 111111 01110111 111101 1101110 110111 01110101 011101 10111011101 10111110111 11111111101 110101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 13
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 237
  • Average number of words per stanza: 42
  • Amount of lines: 96
  • 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, we, some, by are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Merchantmen;
  • 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