This is an analysis of the poem After Fifty Years that begins with:

Her house is empty and her heart is old,
And filled with shades and echoes that deceive... 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: abbaacca dedeed
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: sonnet with iambic pentameter or irregular meter
  • Metre: 0101010101 1101110101 1110111101 0111011101 1111110011 1101111001 0111110111 0110110101 0101010011 1101010111 0101111011 1001110111 1111010111 10110110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 324
  • Average number of words per stanza: 62
  • Amount of lines: 14
  • Average number of symbols per line: 45 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; her, and 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 her 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 After Fifty Years;
  • 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 Clark Falkner