This is an analysis of the poem The Loss Of The Victoria that begins with:

Alas! Now o'er Britannia there hangs a gloom,
Because over 400 British Tars have met with a watery tomb;... 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: aabc ddee ffcc ddgg gghh iiaa ggjj gggg kkXc aadd XXgX ggaf llddXcbdd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 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: 0111001001101 0110110111001001 110101100001010010 110010101110101 101011110010101 1011011101001001 1111001010111011 111010000101 11110101001 11010100100101 100101101101 101101000010010001 01000010011010111 0101001011101 0101101110101 1011100011001 0100001011001001001 1111010000111101 1100010110101 101101111010001 11010111110011 111001111011 010101110111 01110101000101 1111001100010 11001001011101 1010111101111 111011100101101 11101101101000100 0101100110 1100101001101101 1110010000111011 1011110110101 1011010000101 11011101001100 110010111101 110111001010101 10011010101 1100001100101 10111011100110101 111101011001 10100100100110 101101101001110 11101001011110100 1100100111011 1111011001 1111001000110 0100010101011 010100101010010010 11111011010 10010001001 111010101 011100100101001001 1010100010000010100 110100100001 1011011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 14
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 225
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 56
  • Average number of symbols per line: 56 (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, of, in, to are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words the, alas 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 The Loss Of The Victoria;
  • 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