This is an analysis of the poem On The Mantelpiece that begins with:

A thousand years went to her making,
A thousand years of experiments in pastes and glazes. ... 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: abbcXXX XbadceXXXe abdXXXbXXa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 7,10,10,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 010010010 01000010001110 1111 0101000101001011001 01010100 10010110 101100 1100100 11010111111 010011111010 110101110011 111100 11111 1110111 01101111 1010010101100100 1010010101 10011101010 10100101 11 11101010 010100111 11110100 111001000101011010 101011011110 1001000100010 1111001110
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 350
  • Average number of words per stanza: 64
  • Amount of lines: 27
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; your, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of On The Mantelpiece;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Amy Lowell