This is an analysis of the poem The Dead Man Walking that begins with:

They hail me as one living,
But don't they know... 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: abXb cdad aeXe fghg dcae aifi XcXc dhhh Xhah XXab
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1111110 1111 1111010 10011 11101111 01001 0111010 1011 1101010 100110 1111100 01110 1111010 1101 1101011 1001 01011110 0111 0101010 01110 11110010 0101 0111110 0101 1111110 1011 1111010 1111 1111110 0101 10011111 1101 1011110 1101 1100011 1101 1001110 0111 0101010 1111
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 95
  • Average number of words per stanza: 19
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 23 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words a, not are repeated.

    The author used the same word and 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 Dead Man Walking;
  • 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