This is an analysis of the poem Love Thyself Last that begins with:

Love thyself last. Look near, behold thy duty
To those who walk beside thee down life’s road; ... 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 eded efef gbgb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11011101110 0111011111 11111101010 1101010011 11011111010 1101011001 11011111010 0111110101 11010100011 1101010111 11001101111 1111110101 11011111111 11010101110 10110011011 11110101010 11011111010 0101011101 01000111110 1111101101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 192
  • Average number of words per stanza: 36
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 47 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, to are repeated.

    The author used the same word love at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

  • summary of Love Thyself Last;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox