This is an analysis of the poem A Reply To A Letter that begins with:

O nonsense, parson-tell me not they thrive
And jubilate who follow your dictation.... 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: ababbccdcddc efXfgghhg bXibiijg dbdbjjdeed jjkdkkd hhlll
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 12,9,8,10,7,5,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101011111 11001101010 0010100101 11110101010 01000100010 1001010101 1100000101 1101001101 0101010111 0100011101 110100110001 010110010101 11101110001 010010100110 110010100110 01010111010 1101011101 0100011100 1101011001 1111010101 111101010101 101111101010 11011101100 0101111101 11010011010 0101010101 1101011111 111110110010 1101010101010 1011010111 11111101010 1101110101 11110111010 0101111101 1001010001 01011001101 1100010101 1101010001 101101110101 010010111001 01110100101 001111010010 0101100101 01010101010 11011111110 1100010001 11110101011 110110111011 1111110111 1101110111 111101011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 375
  • Average number of words per stanza: 67
  • Amount of lines: 51
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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 is repeated.

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

  • summary of A Reply To A Letter;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ambrose Bierce