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

THE CURTAIN rose—the play began—
The limelight on the gay garbs shone;... 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: aaaabbcddbee fggfff hbbhbb ieXihh effecX Xbbbhh ajjakk ahhaii jlljhh hmmhhh cjjcbb ibbinnXffffcc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 12,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 01010101 01110111 11001101 01010111 11010111 01010101 11110111 10010101 01010101 11110101 10010111 01000101 01010101 01110101 010100101 11011101 10011111 10010111 11110111 11010101 01010101 11111100 11011101 000100101 11011101 01011111 00111100 11011101 11011111 11011101 11110100 11010001 011110101 11010011 11011111 01001100 10010110 11110111 11101101 11011101 11011111 01011111 11111111 11100101 00110111 10010101 01110111 01010101 10111101 11111110 01001111 11110111 11111001 01010101 01110101 01111101 11010001 11011101 11010101 10111111 11011101 11111111 11010111 001100011 10111101 01011101 11110101 11011101 01010101 11110111 11011101 11010111 11110111 11110101 01010101 11000101 111111010 100111010 11011111 11101101 00110111 11100101 11111101 01010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 13
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 237
  • Average number of words per stanza: 44
  • Amount of lines: 84
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (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; of, i, your, and, old are repeated.

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

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

    The poet repeated the same word me at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Victor James Daley