This is an analysis of the poem Annie Marshall The Foundling that begins with:

Annie Marshall was a foundling, and lived in Downderry,
And was trained up by a coast-guardsman, kind-hearted and merry... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: Xabb cXdd bbee eeff bbgg hhii Xfff hjfa kkll kkcc aamm jjff ggkk kkXf fall nnooXaajh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 10101010110100 111110111110110 111101011101 110101001101 01111001010111 110100101010011101 101000100101 11110110111 1110110011001 110011101000111 1111001101101 01010111111010111 11001110111 1010101100101 011100010111101 110010100110111 11000111111001 10101110111 101110111111 0100100111010011 1011110111111 11010110001011 1101010101111 101101101110101 1101100111110 10111111 111101010101 01111101010111 10111101101001 111001111101 1010011101001 1101001001001000 0111011011010101 10011010101 101011010100101 10111010101001 1100100111100111 101011010101 1111111110101 110111111101 1010101101100 1101111011001100 11011001001101001 10100111100100101 11010011001001 10111111011111 1010111010111 10101000101 110010101010 111101110001 010110101011 1110101011011 1110101111 10100100101010111 1100101010100 10101010010101001 01110101001101 111010010100 1111001001010010101 01100101110101 111110110101 101111101101 11011000101 11110111011 110110101001100 101101011110100 11101001001011 1010100101000111
  • Amount of stanzas: 17
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 222
  • Average number of words per stanza: 41
  • Amount of lines: 68
  • Average number of symbols per line: 55 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 10
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, annie, she, to, in, matthew, bately, david are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word so at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines greenland, sea are repeated).

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

  • summary of Annie Marshall The Foundling;
  • 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