This is an analysis of the poem Little Billee that begins with:

Air--"il y avait un petit navire."
There were three sailors of Bristol city... 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: X abXb aXcb AXaX Abcb XXXX dXaX ebeb cXcX XXdb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101101101000 1011001010 11011101 110111010 11011101 11101110010 101011101 11111110010 101011111 1101010010 10110001000 0101110010 1010111110 1101010010 10101011001 110111110 11111111 101011001111 10101001100 110100110 1101010 1011111010 111101010 1011100110010 111010 110110011101 11111101 1111001010 1111100111 1000011010 1111100 10101010110 01001001 11110100100 11111101 111101111 010001001
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 146
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 37
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (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 is repeated.

    The author used the same words there, says 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 Little Billee;
  • 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 Makepeace Thackeray