What Man Is There Of You? by George MacDonald: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem What Man Is There Of You? that begins with:

The homely words how often read!
How seldom fully known!...

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: abaX abab abaXXabab
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01011101 110101 11001111 1101010 11110101 1111001 01111111 011101 11011111 110111 11111101 1110010 10110111 110101 11111111 110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 129
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 16
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 7

  • 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; i is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word he is repeated.

    The author used the same word how 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 What Man Is There Of You?;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by George MacDonald

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