Philology Recapitulates Ontology, Poetry Is Ontology by Delmore Schwartz: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Philology Recapitulates Ontology, Poetry Is Ontology that begins with:

Faithful to your commandments, o consciousness, o
Holy bird of words soaring ever whether to nothingness or...

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: a Xb bc da XX X c c Xc dXc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,2,3,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 100101011001 1010110101001001 01010001010 11110110111000100 11101010111 010100010001101010 111010011 10100010100100100 110110100 1000101001000101 110110101001010 101100101101001 1000100101000110 1010101001 1010101101111 011101000 10011010
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 91
  • Average number of words per stanza: 14
  • Amount of lines: 17
  • Average number of symbols per line: 53 (very long 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; to, of, as, and, forever are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Philology Recapitulates Ontology, Poetry Is Ontology;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Delmore Schwartz

Poems about...
✕