This is an analysis of the poem To His Unconstant Friend that begins with:

But say thou very woman, why to me
This fit of weakness and inconstancie? ... 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: aXbbccaaaabbddcceeffbbaagghhiihhaaaaaXjjkkllmmnnXecXhhlllllleemdookkggaXbb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 74,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111010101 010101100 1101110111 1111110101 0111011111 0100111001 1101111111 1110110101 01101011101 0101011111 1111111111 1101011111 1011010101 1101010111 1011010111 0111110011 0111010101 11110010101 1101110111 1111110111 1111110111 1101111101 1011111111 1111010010 1001111111 1011011101 0111000111 1110010011 0111010101 10111010011 1111011001 1001010011 0101100101 1111000101 1111100101 111101101 1101011011 010111010 1111110111 1101010111 1110111101 1101111111 1101110111 1101011111 010111101 1111111111 1011011101 1111010101 0011011100 1101010101 111100010001 0101111101 1101011101 1111111111 1101011101 1111011101 010110110 1011010101 1101010111 1111110101 1101011101 1101101101 1111010101 1011111101 1111010011 0111111101 0111110101 1001010101 1011011111 0111110111 111101001011 0111010100 1111111111 1111111111
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 3198
  • Average number of words per stanza: 613
  • Amount of lines: 74
  • 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:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; i, thy, your, his, not are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of To His Unconstant Friend;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Henry King