This is an analysis of the poem The Haughty Actor that begins with:

AN actor - GIBBS, of Drury Lane -
Of very decent station,... 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: aaaaaaba cdcdeecd ee d cfcfggcf hXhFiicF jkjkaaeX XabAllbA XkXkmmeX ekeknnek babammaX bcbcllbX cXckoonX blbXjjdX ekekXccX pfpXe ejeXf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,2,1,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,5,5,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11010101 0101010 11000101 0101010 00110101 11110001 11011101 0101010 01011111 1111011 10010111 0101011 01110101 11011101 11111101 0101011 1111011101 0110010111 01 01000101 0111010 01110101 1100010 11110101 11010101 11110101 1101010 01011101 1101010 11010101 1100010 01011101 100101001 11011101 1100010 01010101 10011010 00010101 111110 11111101 010010101 01011101 1111100 10111011100 0101010 101111111 0100111 11010101 1011010 11010111 0100111 10011111000 1101010 10101010 0100110 01110101 11110101 01011101 11001100 01000101 0101010 11010101 1101010 1101101 11110111 11010001 1101010 101110011 0111111 11110100 0111010 11000101 11110101 11110111 11110100 1101001 0101110 11110101 0101010 111011101 01010101 01111001 01011000 01000111 0101010 101011111 1111110 11010101 11000111 11010101 01001000 11010101 1011011 01110111 101101 11110101 01010101 01010101 011101 11010101 1101010 10010110101 0101010 11011111 10101101 11011101 11011100 10101110101 1101010 01111101 01010100 11110101 11011101 11011101 01010101 0101001100 0101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 198
  • Average number of words per stanza: 35
  • Amount of lines: 121
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; him, it, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Haughty Actor;
  • 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 Schwenck Gilbert