This is an analysis of the poem The Soudanese that begins with:

They wrong'd not us, nor sought 'gainst us to wage
The bitter battle. On their God they cried... 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: abbXabbacdbcXd X X Xbbeebbefggfgf X b heehheehbibXej X g gkXggkkgcebcbe e b bXgbbXgbgdedge e d cllcclXcimcmec X k kbbkkbbkihnheX X i hcchhcchjnffjn X k dXhddhhdbjbjjb k XXnnccnncdfdfdf e X mccmmccmhfnhfn X f oeeooeeonknkkn X m m hbbhhbbhddeXbX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,15,1,1,14,1,1,14,1,1,1,14,1,1,14,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111111101 0101011111 1101010001 01001001100 11110010101 1101010101 10010010011 1101010101 1111100101 00010011111 1101110111 1011011111 101111001000 1101110111 1 10 1101010100 0101110111 01011100100 1011101110 0101010111 0101000111 0101000101 0011010001 0101101111 01010100001 0010010001 11100010101 1001100101 1001101101 1 0101 1100110111 1001110101 10010010111 01110111010 01001100001 1001110001 10010110111 110101010001 0101010101 1111101100 1010110101 1101111100 01010010101 10010011111 1 10 1011110011 1101010101 1101011100 11110100101 110100100011 0101010001 11111100101 1001010111 0111010111 0101110100 1001011111 1100101101 1101011111 1001000101 1 10010 1001010101 1011011101 0101111101 01000100101 1111110101 11010101100 1110010101 1001110101 1101001101 10110100110 1101100111 10010010101 100111111 100101001 1 0110010 0101010100 0110010111 1001010101 1101000101 1011010111 1101101111 11001111100 11110101001 0001001100 01110111101 0111110001 1111111101 1111011101 1100110101 1 01010 1011110101 1101001111 0100010111 1101010101 1111011101 1101010101 11110011101 1101011101 1001110100 1011011111 1001011101 1001110011 0111110001 1101011100 1 001001010 0101111101 11010100101 1111010001 10011010101 1100010011 11000001001 10001110101 1101011001 0111110101 1011010111 1001011101 1101010101 0111010011 11001110101 1 1010 1101011011 010010101100 0100010101 1101110101 1101010111 1101010011 1101010111 1111010011 10010101101 11010011101 01010011001 1101010001 1111011111 1101111011 1 1100 1101111000 1101000011 1101011111 11110011101 1111010011 1101110001 01010011101 1111010101 1111011111 01110100111 1011010101 1111010101 11111101011 0101000101 1 11010 010010101111 0111000101 11110000101 1101010111 0101101101 1101110001 0101010101 1101110101 0101010111 01010101011 0101110111 1010110101 0101011101 0100110001 1 010010 1111010111 1101010111 11111001001 1111010101 11110100111 1011011111 11010100101 1111010101 1101010111 110110010100 101010010111 1101110001 01001010001 110010001001 1 11 100101001010001 0011110101 0111001111 01111000111 1101010111 1111000101 0111011111 1111111001 1101010001 1001100101011 1101010001 10100010101 011001001100 1111010101 11110001001 1 1100100 10010010101 11110010001 1101010101 10110100101 11110110100 1111110101 1111110101 1001001100 010100100011 1111010111 1110110101 1011011110 1111011111 0111010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 40
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 218
  • Average number of words per stanza: 39
  • Amount of lines: 236
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; we, of, another, to, thou, and, thy, thee, their, i, my, as, her, know are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words we, triumphant, another, thou, and, the, where, a are repeated.

    The author used the same word the 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 Soudanese;
  • 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 Watson