This is an analysis of the poem The Last Muster that begins with:

All day we had driven the starving sheep to the scrub where the axes ply,
And the weakest had lagged upon weary feet and dropped from the ranks...

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: aabbcccc ddbb eeff ggff hhbb XXbX hXcc bbbX cXcc bbcc bbaXXbb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 111110010100110101 101011011011100101 10111001011011101 101010111110101101 1111110101110101 111010101100101 10111001011011001 111110111111001 101010100100101 01111001011001111 110010101101101 110011101100101 110100111101101 101111011010111 1110100101110101 100100100100111 101100111100111 10011101111101 1011001111001101 11001001011001001 1010010101111101 1101100101100101 101101101111101 10010101101101 111111101110101 111011011011001110 1110110101101011 11101110101010010 11101101111011101001 11110111011110010 11111001100111011001 101001011101001011 100100110000110111 00100101000111011 00100101100100111 1010110111111001010 11110110100111111 111110010101111110 1010100101100101 1011010101100101 1010011101101111 1111010100100101 110011101101111 110100101111001 1010010010110100101 101001110011011101 00111001000101101 0010010101101101100 1110011111110101 1110011101111111
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 299
  • Average number of words per stanza: 56
  • Amount of lines: 50
  • Average number of symbols per line: 71 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 13
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, to, they, in, their, from, of, his, has, them are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word and 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 The Last Muster;
  • 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 Henry Ogilvie