This is an analysis of the poem Richard Pigott, The Forger that begins with:

Richard Pigott, the forger, was a very bad man,
And to gainsay it there's nobody can,... 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 ccdd eeaa aadd ccXb ddfa ddgg afcc eeee bbhX ddee ddee ddbb dddd ddeeXhhdd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1010010101011 1011011111 011100101001001 110101101101 111101100110 101011011101 101011101001 1011111111 1110100101 10110011111 1011101111 101101010111101 01110100101 10100110001001 1110111110001 10101101001011001 11010000111101 111100111001 1110001010011100110 1110101000111 11010100101 11011010110101 1010011011 11011011101011 0111011110101 11010001010101 1010010100111 10010111111001 1111111110101 1011011011111101 0101010011011 101100101100110 101011010101 11010111111 11001100100101 010100101110101 1010101111010101 111101011101 01010100101100010 10010100101110 1101101010110001 1011101111001 011101000101 11110110101 111010101111 11110101101101 1111001011001 0010010011010101 110010011100101 10011001001011 01110101100101 111010011001 1001010010001 11010101 011010111100 11011001010101 11111100110001 1101100101 10111111111 111011101 111111101101 10110011011 111100111 1110110100001
  • Amount of stanzas: 16
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 205
  • Average number of words per stanza: 39
  • Amount of lines: 64
  • Average number of symbols per line: 51 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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; he, and, to, his are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words for, and 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 Richard Pigott, The Forger;
  • 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