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

THIS is Christ's birthday: long ago
He lay upon His Mother's knee, ... 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: abab cdcd dXdX ebeb cfcf cdcd baba Xecec
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,5,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 00111101 11010101 11111111 11001101 11011101 011101001 01110101 111100111 11111111 11101100 11110111 11110101 010101101 11010101 11011111 110101001 11110101 111101110 01010111 01110101 101101101 01011101 11110101 11110111 01111111 11111101 110101011 11011111 10011101 01110101 11110011 11110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 144
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 39
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; more is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words this, and are repeated.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Edith Nesbit