Canto XVI by Ezra Pound: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Canto XVI that begins with:

And before hell mouth; dry plain
and two mountains;...

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: abcdefebgbehbeiafjfekdXfe efflXiXmbXXaemXbXaiXa bXfinmaihjopqibkb bdXbiaa rXsXalXbafibgllebopnhhbeidbhlebaaiX toXtbabdmalicdilimXcaei ilXlili iarXefXr iXaem iiiihl ilb XaXXXXXpiXXXXXbXXXoXXbhmdiXX mXXp X XXp XXXoXXXoei cXXqXfpXiXbXqX fhhd hffqinX ppfXflfX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 25,21,17,7,35,23,7,8,5,6,3,28,4,1,3,10,14,4,7,17,4,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1011111 1110 101100101 1010 001001011 0110111 0101110100 1101011001 10101101 101001011 1001010 0110 1011011 101110011010 11100 00110110 1111010011 01100111 0110 1111100 100110100010 1010010 1110 1010001 1101100100100 1100100 100011010 010101110 10 0110010100110 010011111 111110100111 0011 11011 1010 010101010 0110110111001 11111010010010 1010101 111100 11110101101 10010110 011011101101 1110 100 0111010 1111010 01101101 101001011 0110 11001001 0111 101011 01011010 010 111010001 1010 100101 011 01110011 11110010 100010010010 110101010110 01101011 010110 1010110 101101001 0010 111110010 1110001 101101 110011 111 1001110110 1111010 0110100010 11110100 1101101 11100101011 1111110111 11010111001 101011111 111 1010 111010 1100 11010011 11100010 11111011 11100101011 0100110010 01101100011 1110 111010100 101111010 11110010 11010011 011010010 1111001100100 111101111101100 10001 110 1100101011 1101111 010101110 10111001 1100100 1011100110010 11100111001 1110 00101001 101101110 1110110010 11111110 011010011 110111100 11110100 1111 11001010 1111100 0010100110 101101011010011 10110010010 1010111011 110100101 1111001100100 000100 1011011010 11010100 0010100100 10111100100 111100100 10111011 11110010 11111110111 100100 1111001 11001001 10100010 101011001 100010111 11101 0101001 111010100 00110100 1111101 111110110 010001000010 1101111100 10101100011 0111110100101 11101110 10110010 1011100100 110101100 110010 11101111 111110 11101 101101111111 110101101110 11011110 1110001110 11110110111100 11101001 101101110010 1111100 101101 110011110100110 0110000110 11101110 111011101110 11100 110111010011 1101011011 1100101110 1110111110 1000110110 1011 10111101 11101 0111100110 11011100111 10011101010 1011111001100 1011011 111011001 10101011001100 011011 1100111 1111111001 1111110 1110111111111 1111101110 10110 11111 111110 110101100 111110 110011001011 110110010 1101111101 11011101 110100011111 101110111 1011001 11100100111 101001001 101101111 11001 11101101011 101110110110 101011 10111111111010 10110111 1011001011 1011111010000 101001 11000111110 1101101010 1110010 1101110 001010111 1111111 111011111 11101101011 1111111111 1001000 110111011 1010111101 1110101 100000 1111001 1100100100 1010100001 0011010010 01001110 1110 111011010110 111 101011001 10101001 11100100100 11101010 111110 11111 1111011010110011 1101001101010 11001010110 110111010 1110101 1110101010 11100101 110011010 10110001001
  • Amount of stanzas: 22
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 471
  • Average number of words per stanza: 76
  • Amount of lines: 256
  • 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; and, in, he, it, of, library, so, les, tout, y, et, madeh, iss, beace, de, there, they, that are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, the, his, so, y, he, in are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines percy, it are repeated).

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

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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