The Shortness Of Life by Francis Quarles: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Shortness Of Life that begins with:

And what's a life? A weary pilgrimage,
Whose glory in one day doth fill the stage... 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: aaa bbb ccX ddd eee fff
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,3,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1101010100 1100111101 0111110101 1101010001 0011011101 1011100101 11010101010 1111011011010 0101010101 0111011111 1100111101 0111111111 1111010111 11001010101 1100111111 1111010101 0101110001 1101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 129
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 18
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

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

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

  • summary of The Shortness Of Life;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Francis Quarles

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