Poem Analysis of Sestina by Dante Alighieri for close reading

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

I have come, alas, to the great circle of shadow,
to the short day and to the whitening hills,...

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: abcddd dadbdc cddabd dcbdad ddacdb bdddcaXadc
Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,10,
Closest metre: iambic pentameter
Сlosest rhyme: couplets
Сlosest stanza type: tercets
Guessed form: heroic couplets
Metre: 1110100110011 00111001001 1010011001 1101001101 1100000101 11111100010 111010110 110101011 100111101 1011011101 1101001101 11010001011 10110101 11010101010 0111011001 11110100111 111010111 110011101 0101110111 0111100101 1111010111 0110101010 1001110011 111111111 111011101 1111111001 1111101011 1111001101 11011101110 101110101 0100110001 0101101111 11011101010 111110111 11111101 10011101111 0100111011 001101010 101011101
Amount of stanzas: 7
Average number of symbols per stanza: 238
Average number of words per stanza: 46
Amount of lines: 39
Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; to, and, i, her, in are repeated.
There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines woman, grass, stone, green, hills, shadow are repeated).

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.

Sestina by Dante Alighieri: poem analysis

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

More information about poems by Dante Alighieri