This is an analysis of the poem The Sailing Of The Long-Ships that begins with:

They saw the cables loosened, they saw the gangways cleared,
They heard the women weeping, they heard the men that cheered;... 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: aabb cdee aadd ffaa eegg dceX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101010110101 1101010110111 1111010101101 1101011110101 1111110111010 1101110010101 11010101100101 1111011110101 11010010100101 1101010010111 1111011010101 0111110101101 11000011101101 1101110110110 1101010110111 1111110100111 1111110111111 11001110111101 1111110111101 1101110110101 110111101101101 1101110010010 1111010110101 1111011110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 234
  • Average number of words per stanza: 43
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 58 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; they, i, of, not, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Sailing Of The Long-Ships;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Sir Henry Newbolt