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

High Lord of Liars, Pickering, to thee
Let meaner mortals bend the subject knee!... 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: aabbccddeeff aaggggeeaaeehhgghhii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 12,20,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1101010001 1101010011 10100001001 0111010101 1111110101 10111001101 1111110100 01010100111 1111001101 1100010001 1101010001 011011111 1101011101 1101111111 1101000101 0110110101 1101110101 0011110101 0100011101 1101011101 0101010011 1100011101 1010110111 1111110111 110101111 1111100101 1001000101 1111010011 0101011101 1011000101 1101010101 0111110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 670
  • Average number of words per stanza: 122
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • 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; thou is repeated.

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

  • summary of Mendax;
  • 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