This is an analysis of the poem The Battle Of Bannockburn that begins with:

Sir Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn
Beat the English in every wheel and turn,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: Xabb ccdd aabb ccee Xfbb ggXX hhXX iibb ffjX iikX llkkbbiiff bbffbb hhffhhffaX ffbbbbaaX bbffbbbj ffeeaamm jjgbg cXaX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,10,6,10,9,8,8,5,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 110011100 10100100111 11010101 01010101 0100010101 111011011101 01001010010010 110010001100 110110010001 01011001010101 100101100110001 01010100101 01010010101110101 1111001100111 10010101011011 011111001 1100010101110 01001111001010101 1010010101 1100100101 110011010001 01001011001 110101010110100 1101001111110101 11101001010101 010010110111 0110111111001 1100011101 010010010101 1101010111101 0010100101100101 01000101111101 10101011101 111011101001 1111000110110 11011101100 110110100111101 111011001101 1010101010011111 10110011100 11101001001 101001001101 11010001111011 111010010010001 1010100011001 10101101011101 11000110011 1010111001 0101101110101 11101101101 11100101 0011011 1101110001 1110101 100111101 11110011 10100111001 110101110101 11110101 10010101 10110111 110101111 1101001101 111100111 111101 01110100 111010111 1010101 1010101 01011101 1010101 11101011001 1111111 11110101 01010100 111011111 1101100011 1101110101 01111101 1100010101 11011101 0101101 1011100 101100101 11010111 1110101101 11110001 1111101011001 01011111 1110111101 1101011110 11110100 111111100 1100101 1111011001 010011111 1010111 11110111 111101 01110100
  • Amount of stanzas: 18
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 246
  • Average number of words per stanza: 45
  • Amount of lines: 100
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to, and, of, they, he 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.

    The poet repeated the same word bannockburn at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of The Battle Of Bannockburn;
  • 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