This is an analysis of the poem The Death of Allegory that begins with:

I am wondering what became of all those tall abstractions
that used to pose, robed and statuesque, in paintings...

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: aabb bacd XXXX edba cbaX afXb XXXaXebaf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 111001010111010 110111101010 10101101000101 0101100101101 1100101001 10011110001 1111010101001 1001001111010 10010011000101 100011100010101 1110110100100110 100110111001010 10101100001 10111001110111 111111010011 1010110110 1001101111101 10011100111001 010001001010100 1111100010001 1101010100010100 11001010010101 01001011101 10111001010101 0111010110 1101101011000111 1101001010111 10111000101 011111101 1111101010101 0111101111101 0010110110110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 204
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 50 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Billy Collins