This is an analysis of the poem The Diverting History Of John Gilpin, Showing How He Went Farther Than He Intended, And Came Safe Home Again that begins with:

John Gilpin was a citizen
Of credit and renown,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aaba caba bcac dbdb caca deXe dcac fdgd gXhd Xaia jdkd dada bala mcec jdjd bjdj hddd cede bege adjd dggg daaa ggjg gcgc Xigi bbkb andn Xhah bdod ceae aepe dapa ggog XbXb gbqb fdXd obdb gcoc enen khXh bmgm hhmh gpXp mdcd dada idcd agjg bobo bcac daca gcXc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010100 010101 01010111 010101 11011001 110110 111100011 110111 01001101 110101 10011100 100111 11011101 111101 01011111 111101 11011101 010011 11111101 110101 11010001 110111 11010100 010101 11010111 111101 10010011 101111 11010101 101101 11110111 110101 01010111 111110 01100111 111111 11110111 110110 11011101 011111 11011101 010111 01010101 101001 11010101 110101 11110101 111101 1101111 010001 11010111 110010 11111101 110111 11011111 110111 11010100 010011 11010111 010101 01111101 110111 01111101 111101 11010101 111101 01010111 110111 11010101 110111 11010111 010101 11011110 100101 01111111 110001 11110101 010101 11010101 010101 11010101 010111 01010101 111001 11110111 111101 11010101 010111 11011111 110101 11010101 110101 01110011 110001 11010111 010111 01110111 011111 11011111 010101 01010101 110111 11110101 110101 11110101 010111 01010111 110111 01010101 110101 110011111 111111 01110111 011101 11011101 110101 11111111 110001 10010111 111101 11111101 010111 01010101 010101 11010001 110001 11010101 111100 11110101 010101 11110101 1100101 11110100 110101 01111001 010011 11110101 111001 11100101 101111 11000101 001001 010101001 011101 11110101 111101 010111110 110111 11011101 010101 11010101 1110111 1110111 111101 10111110 010011 01110101 110100 11010100 011111 01000101 010011 11011001 110101 11111101 111111 111000111 111111 11010101 110101 11100100 010111 11011111 101101 11110101 110101 01001101 010101 10110101 100110 11110111 011101 01110111 110001 11011001 110101 11011111 111111 11110101 110111 11111111 000101 11001101 110111 01111100 111111 11000111 110101 11110111 111111 11011101 111111 111101010 011111 10010111 110101 11010101 111101 01110101 110111 11010111 111011 11010111 010101 00010101 111101 11100111 110001 01011111 110111 01011101 110110 10011101 110101 11010111 110111 01011101 111101 01110101 110101 01011101 0100001 11000101 110101 010100001 110111 11110100 110011 11111111 010001 11011101 110011 01110101 110101 11101101 111101 11111111 100111 11111101 110111 11111101 110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 63
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 120
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 252
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; he, his, you are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words away, and, a, for, the are repeated.

    The author used the same words john, so, and at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The word/phrase tell connects the lines.

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

  • summary of The Diverting History Of John Gilpin, Showing How He Went Farther Than He Intended, And Came Safe Home Again;
  • 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 Cowper