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

In Memory of one of the Writer's Family who was a Volunteer during the War
with Napoleon... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: ab ccded bbaba aafaf XXbXb aaXad ggfgf eeheh ffeXX bbfabf ggigi cchgeX Xhghg jjfjf bbabX jjaja ddhdh eeaeX jXXjg hhfhf bXhXX kkXkX XXlhl jjXjX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,6,5,6,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01000100101001101011001 00100 001011 10111011 0111010101 011111010111111 111101 1101011 01101010 10100110011 1010001001101011 010101 01111 00101011 1101110101 1111001011100011 010100 110001 1001010110 0101011111 10101010010101001 110101 101011 1101111 1010111100 1011111010100111 110101 101100011 11101111 1101111111 1011101111100011 010101 100011 10101011 011010100001 100101011101011 111101 100101010 111110010 10101110111 1101111111001110 1111110 01010 1111010 11101110101 10101111111011 10 110101 10111111 1111011 0101010101 100110010111011 1010101 10011 11001011 111001110111 1010100101 10111011 1111010 11111100 0101110 10100010101 010101010011110 100101 101010 11111110 10101011111 11101100010100110 110101 10101010 10101010 11100100101 110101011101010 11010100 11110 0101110 0101010101 110011011101110 110101 1101110 1101010 1101010101 1101110101110110 110101 101011 1101011 0101111111 1010101011110011 0101010 1101110 0110100 1101010101 110011110101010 101111 11110 1111110 10111100011 110111011001110 0111110 0101010 1101110 01010011001 0100010010001010 1111110 10110 11001010 0101010101 110101011101010 111111 1100110 0101100 10110011100 011101010101010 110100 10010 1011010 10101010101 11101111111010 1111010
  • Amount of stanzas: 24
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 227
  • Average number of words per stanza: 34
  • Amount of lines: 119
  • Average number of symbols per line: 47 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; there, and, to, him, thee, he, my, it, me are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is repeated.

    The author used the same word in at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines there, dear, him, thee, it, me are repeated).

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

  • summary of The Alarm;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Thomas Hardy