This is an analysis of the poem A Prayer For My Daughter that begins with:

ONCE more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid... 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: aXbbaaaaccddeddfggXXaeeabbffhgghaabbXXaiffaajbbjaaggkaakgXhhaaaajjXXbbbbjXiiehhf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 80,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101010111 1001011100 1111101100 110011111 01011111001 110010101 1111011111 01001110011 111111011110 11011101010 11001000111 001010101 01000010100 1010011 1000101 100100100001 1101010111 1001010101 1001010111 101100100 0101000101 110010110 010101000 1101110101 10101011111 1101110001 1111111001 101001101 1101010111 01011101 01010011 0101010001 0100110101 11111011111 111110100100 11011101 1101011111 1100111110 11101010 0011010101 11010100101 1101110100 1111010101 11000001 1101000101 110100010 111111110 1001101001 1101011111 0101011101 1011011101 11100101 1100110101 01110001 011100001 1101010001 11010010001 11010101100 11110100101 10010101 0100010101 101111000 11010101 1111010101 01001110101 01010100100 11111001010 10101100 1101100100 111100111 110010101 11001010101 1101110001 110101000 1100110101 1000101 11010101010 11001101 1000011011 1101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 3090
  • Average number of words per stanza: 560
  • Amount of lines: 80
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (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; and, in, that, self, every are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, nor are repeated.

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

  • summary of A Prayer For My Daughter;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by William Butler Yeats