This is an analysis of the poem An All-Night Sea Fight that begins with:

Ye sons of Mars, come list to me,
And I will relate to ye... 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: aabb XXXX XcXa XdXX aaeX bbaa eeff ggXd aahh Xdcc XXii iicc jjgX bbaa kkbbfX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 11011101 1100101 011010101 10111001 01101011010001010101000 101010111 101011011001000101 11010100010101 11010001010101101100 011100100101 111010010011 10011101101100101 11010110010 101100011101 11101010101 11001100111110 101000111101 000100010000101 11010110111111 1110101100 0101111010101 11010100011 1111010111001 100001100101 1011010010001 11100010101 100101010011001 101100101110101 011011011 0101000100101 10101110110101100 110100010001 10100010101 1001100010000101 11011111001 101011101001001 101001100101000 101011101011 10101010101 0110010111110101 1101101010101 10010011011100 1111101101 101011011111 10101100101 1100101011 1110111101 11111111111 0111010111011 1011011101 01110010010001010 1010001110010000111 1010010000101 1101001100101 111101111000101 1010101010111011 1011010010011110 01111100110 11010110010001 010101001110101001 0101011100011 1001000111010110
  • Amount of stanzas: 15
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 228
  • Average number of words per stanza: 39
  • Amount of lines: 62
  • Average number of symbols per line: 55 (very long strings)
  • 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; and, in, they, of 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 then 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 An All-Night Sea Fight;
  • 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 Topaz McGonagall