This is an analysis of the poem The Ghosts Of The Buffaloes that begins with:

Last night at black midnight I woke with a cry,
The windows were shaking, there was thunder on high,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aabbccddcee bbXbeXXEEX ffXghhccggiiDDXHJJ ahhiiXXXX caeaXEEX iiffccff ggDDXHJJ afkakLLLadcXcXffXkiiXXiX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 11,10,18,9,8,8,8,24,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11111111001 010010111011 01101001101 11010101001 11001101011 11101011011 011111101001 101111111011 1 111111011 1001001001 11001101101 110010111 1111101110110 1100101101 110110011001 0111100110110 0111100111 0111 0111 10110110110110 0101111001 10110101011 1001001011 1011001001 1101011011 1011011011 100101001 1111011011 1011011001 10110110111 1101101001 1101001001 1011011011 101101111 011111011110 11111101011 11011001001 11101101001 10111 01010101 01111 10010011 1000101 1111010010 11010100 11010100 11010100 1 1001011011 11011001011 01001011001 1110111011011 0111 0111 0110110110110 1001001001 01101011001 01101001101 1011011011 10111111 100101001 10111011 101101011 1111110011 0101111001 1011011011 101101111 011111011110 11111101011 11011001001 11101101001 11010101 01010101 1011110101 101100101 110100101 010010 010010 010010 101 1011 011001 01001 0111 100110111 100101001 01001111110 0110110101100 0101101001 10010101 11010011 11010100 11010100 11010110101 0101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 477
  • Average number of words per stanza: 86
  • Amount of lines: 96
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; they, and, red, god, la, with, i, heard, cricket, carolling, wind, in, chimney, dream, of, good, night are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines show, carolling, chimney, night are repeated).

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Vachel Lindsay