This is an analysis of the poem The Shepheardes Calender: May that begins with:

May: AEgloga Quinta. Palinode & Piers.
Palinode.... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: a XbXXcXXXadXXeccXX aXe XXXXXXXXXfXcXggddXX aXXhheXXXXcbbiXjjXX XeeXgbbXXggkkXleegg agXbbXXXXbXgXggeeXXXXlXddccmXeXXXXXXXXXXXgXXXXXXXXiieeXfXXXX XXXeehXfXdXeeggcXllXXcXXXXXnnXXgg ajjbbooXg Xmm aXXccggddbbbeeXXXXbXcXbXeellXeXgXgaXXXiijjddeeccbXXXeeccddgXee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,17,3,19,19,19,60,33,9,3,133,9,5,2,2,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1100101001 100 0110101001 111100110 110011110010 1011010101 1101010101 1111011010 010010101 0110100101 1011100101 0101111101 1111001001 110110111 010111101 1100101101 110010111 1111011001 1 1101001101 1111010101 100 1001011101 1101010001 0101101101 010101010 100100111 10011011001 01111110 111100101 1001111011 0101101100 1111000101 11110110 1101011001 0110101011 0101011101 0100101101 11101111101 1111100101 1 1111101 11101011 1101010011 111011111 10111101001 0100110100 11101001011 110111001 10011110111 1100111001 1110101101 01011011011 1100111101 1110110101 111011101 0110101111 110110111 111010100011 100 1011111001 11110100101 1111110010 10001111011 110101110 101101111 1100101110 1110100110 110101011 111100101 1001111010 0111111110 1111011001 1100111101 100111101 111101001 001010001 11011101 1 1100110101 1101110010 110110101 1111011001 000101111 1001100110 1111100100 1001011100 110110101 1101011100 01001011101 010101111 111111110 110010001011 101101011 1010101101 1010111000 1001100100 110110110 110100110 10110111 010101010 11111001 101001101 10110000011 111111111 1001111010 110010010 110111001 1100110 0111111010 11110111010 1100111000 1101110100 111010011 001111101 110100101 1111101 1110111000 11001011100 010111010 1011010 10011111 1110100010 110111100 110100100 101001100 1110010100 11011110 1101010101 101011001 1110100101 1101111011 11100100100 1101010111 11010111 1100101011 0101101010 1110101110 100 11011010100 1010100100 101011011 1010011011 111000101 10101010 11110011 0100100101 1011010111 10010101101 110111101 1101010011 110111001 110111011 1101110010 1101111100 1101001011 111100111 11110011110 0111111010 101110101 1101011010 111000100 11101100 111000110 110110100110 110111011 11001101101 110010110 011111011 11100111010 11011111010 1 101111001 0101101101 100101001 111111110 111111111 1111010001 1101111101 011001101 100 110100110110 10111111010 1 11111111 11101011 110101010 010111010 11101011 011111110 111101001 001111001 110100101 111111001 11011110 010101011 1010101101 01000101010 101110101 111110111 1100100101 1111101111 11110110 110111101 1011110101 11011101 010100101 1111101011 1111011011 11011001001 010100010011 110101010 011110101 0111001101 1100100101 111110011 1101010011 11010101 0101001010 1101010101 0111011011 11100101 0110000101 110101011 110110101 101111011 110111111 1101101001 100101101 1101100010 111111010 111100111 110110010 1011111110 10111101 1111011101 10011001 11010101 1100101101 110101101 110110111 010111001 1111001110100 111110101 11001101001 011110111 1011100110 1101111101 1110110101 1001010111 1111110011 0101110101 1001011011 010111001 101111101 1101111111 11111101010 11111110 110101111 111010101 11001010001 1101010101 1111101 111110111 1100100101 101101111 10111111 1111001001 1011001001 0110110 10100110 110111110 111111001 1100101001 1101110101 1101011100 1101111101 1011111001 1011101101 101110101 1011001110 011001101 011101111 0110101101 110010111 011101001 11110000010 111111010 110101101 01111011 011101011 111010101 1001011101 1101001101 100101011 1110100011 1111110011 1100111001 110111101 001110101 11011101 1110101101 1111101011 111001011 110101101 111011101 101101101 011111011 1101110101 0101110101 110111111 1101101111 1110111110 01100100 111111110 101110101 100 101110111 1010110001 1111111110 111101010 101100101 1111011011 110101011011 110110101 1 011011101 1101110010 11011111 1101110100 100010 11100100 1010 111010100
  • Amount of stanzas: 15
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 915
  • Average number of words per stanza: 164
  • Amount of lines: 334
  • Average number of symbols per line: 40 (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; with, and, to, i, they, good, that, he, his, for, thy, such are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of The Shepheardes Calender: May;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Edmund Spenser