This is an analysis of the poem The Tay Bridge Disaster that begins with:

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say... 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: aaaXB ccddaX eeffaX aaaXB cccggg aXaaaaXB ddddeeffXB ccaaaaaaahhii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,6,6,5,6,8,10,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 10011100101 0111101001 1101101001 10110101 100010101011 101100111 101010101 1011101 1011101 1010001101 101101010 10111000 010010111110 110100101 1111101 110001000101 101101110101010 1101110101 101011101 110101000101 10110101 100010101011 101110101 110011101 10100111 101101011011 011111111 110101011 101110010101 01010111 10101000111 1110111000001 0110101 01101101001 10110101 100010101011 111001001001 001010111 1011111001 010011011 10100101000 1110101010 11011011 01100100010101 100101010110101 100010101011 01101101 010001011 10110111001 01011100101 1110100101 1110111 1100110001101 111010111101 1110100111 1100101110100 11101001010 1010111011 011110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 312
  • Average number of words per stanza: 59
  • Amount of lines: 59
  • Average number of symbols per line: 41 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; of is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word and is 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 tay is repeated).

    The poet repeated the same words tay, time 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 Tay Bridge Disaster;
  • 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