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

HERE, before me, the lamp, the paper;
And behind me this troubled day...

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: abcd ddde adcf Xghed gXgXi XdFaajd Fjhjd dbjbak blleX djej lccXf ijddjgX bjX Xjk hadjciij bdddl l X
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,5,5,7,5,6,5,4,5,7,3,3,8,5,1,1,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 101101010 10110101 1011 1000101110011 10010111 1111 10011101 011100101 1101010 110011 111011 11001 1011001 110111010 11011111010 11110011 0111100 11111101 10011100 11110101010 00110111 111101110100001 110111010 1111011 111011 0010100110 1101010 110101110 0111 111011 110100110 11111000 1111010 0100110101 11101110 11110101 111111 11110101 110100110 101110 111111 110101 11011 11010011010 111010 11100010010 111000100010 101010001001 1001010100 1101010011 1111111011 1010100010111 1101000 1001010101 101100011101 101110110110 10010101 1001010001 10011101010 010101000101 11001100100 1001111101 1111000101 010111010 1101001101 11110101110 1001110101110 10011101 110111110 010111 1101000101 110101110011 00010011111 1010010011111 0011010 1111011101 01010011 101111010 10111101010 1111 01010111 01011010
  • Amount of stanzas: 17
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 166
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 83
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (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; my, and, i, in, our, what, mad, we, of, with, it, cannot, life, to are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, we, i, water, taking are repeated.

    The author used the same words what, i, but at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines steps, not, witness, like are repeated).

    The poet repeated the same word like at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

    The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The word/phrase we connects the lines.

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

  • summary of Commentary;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Charles Vildrac