Tortoise by Osip Emilevich Mandelstam: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Tortoise that begins with:

On the stony spurs of Pierius
The Muses conducted the first round dance...

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: XabccXd X Xeffafed X afXbgaXd X agddhbhb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 7,1,8,1,8,1,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10101010 0100100111 11111011101010 0111 001001001 101010010011 1001011011 1 0110010011010 10110101 010111010101 100101 011001011 1101011010 101101 111111 1 010110 1010101 10110010100 1001001010 10011110 101010111 101100001 1001010110 1 01101001 010001010 010101001001 11111010 11111101 1101011110 1011110011 011100
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 160
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 37
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; where is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Tortoise;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Osip Emilevich Mandelstam

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