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

There was a time in boyhood, ere life ceased
To hold a miracle in every hour,...

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: abab caca dede efef agag caca eheh ihih jXjc ajaj gege fkfkXahah
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101011111 010100010010 1101010001 111010001010 1101010001 1110110101 1111011101 1101010111 1111110111 1101011101 11101001111 1111010101 11011000101 01010011001 0111111101 01010001111 0101011011 0101001101 1111001111 0101000101 0111111011 00101001101 11111110101 1101011101 1101010101 0101010101 1101010111 01110001010 1001001101 1011010101 10011001101 1011001101 1011001101 11111100100 1101010111 11110101000 11010100011 10101010111 0101010101 1101000101 1101010101 0111110011 0101010101 0111000101 1011001111 1100011111 1101010101 0101001101 11001101111 1101111101 0001001101 0100110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 13
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 171
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 53
  • 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; in, and, of, i, to are repeated.

    The author used the same word i 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 Dedication;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Alfred Gordon