This is an analysis of the poem To Mr James Scrymgeour, Dundee that begins with:

Success to James Scrymgeour,
He's a very good man,... 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: Xaba cXde cfdf geXe fbeb afaf hefe iccc eeXe hcjc ehbi babd cfif gkbk bhah jeeeXiehe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 010110 101001 10110 11101 011101 0011000 11001110 11101 10101 111110101 11010010 1101111 11101110100 11011 101011 00101 011101 010101 101111 111011 11001 101001 1001010 11001001 1111000 1011001 1010101001 11001011 11000110 100111 001010100 10110111 01101011 110101 0010010 101010101 10100001 00010101 01011010 010101000101 1001011001 11010110001 111001011 100110100 10010111 1110010101 111110101 001110 1101010110 101011 010000010010 11001 1001010100 111111 1010100111 01010101 101010101 111111 1101011101 0110001 01101110 101100 11101 001101011 010110100 111001 110100001 01100111
  • Amount of stanzas: 17
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 120
  • Average number of words per stanza: 23
  • Amount of lines: 68
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word to is 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 To Mr James Scrymgeour, Dundee;
  • 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