This is an analysis of the poem December 14 that begins with:

This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere,
The tarnished, gaudy, wonderful old work...

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: XabccXddXdbXeXXadecc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 20,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 0111001111 0101010011 0101010101 11010001001 1101010111 0101010111 00101111111 0101010101 0111110101 10010011001011 1100111101 1101111100 0111011101 01111111 1001101111 1111110101 1110111110 1011010001 0101011011 111111010111
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 872
  • Average number of words per stanza: 164
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; of, and, i are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word the is repeated.

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

  • summary of December 14;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by David Lehman