This is an analysis of the poem On The Death Of A Friend that begins with:

There was no bell to peal thy funeral dirge,
No nodding plumes to wave above thy bier,... 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: ababbcbcc cdcddedee fgfggcgcc hihiibibb jejeegegg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 9,9,9,9,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11110111001 1101010111 1101110101 1101011101 1101010001 01100100111 01110101001 1011010111 010101010111 11101101011 01011111101 01010111011 1101010111 0011011101 01010011111 0111011101 01001010101 010111011101 11110101110 11101110101 11010101110 11110111001 1111010111 0100110111 1111010101 01110100101 110101010101 11110101111 1100011111 11011000110 0101111101 1111011111 010010101101 0011011101 1101110101 1101111101001 1111101111 1111011111 1011011111 10011111111 1111010101 1111011101 01110101001 11001110101 0111111100111
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 436
  • Average number of words per stanza: 75
  • Amount of lines: 45
  • Average number of symbols per line: 48 (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; no, to, thy, and are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word no is repeated.

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

  • summary of On The Death Of A Friend;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta