The Fire Alarm by Thomas Cowherd: poem analysis

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

Fire-fire-fire! Nigher still and nigher
Seem the tones of the 'Alarum bell' borne on the air!... 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: Xaba cdbd aeae cddd cebe afdf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 101010101110 1010010011101 1000011010001 10011101111101 101010101110 101010110111 00100011010101 00101011110001 1010100101010 101101010101 011111101101 1000101010011 1010101101010 01011101100101 111101010101 1111101111101 1010101111110 11001100110101 100101111111 1100010110101 101010110101 10111011100001 110101111101 1101110111111
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 208
  • Average number of words per stanza: 39
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 51 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 10

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; fire is repeated.

    The author used the same word fire 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 Fire Alarm;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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