This is an analysis of the poem Retirement that begins with:

Fresh fields and woods! the Earth's fair face,
God's foot-stool, and man's dwelling-place. ... 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: aabbccddXXeeffgghhiiXajjffhh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 28,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11110111 11111101 111101010 010001010 10011010 01111101 11110101 111100111 010100111 01011111 11001101 11010011 11111001 01010101 10010001 01101001 110010101 111101001 01011101 10011001 11011011 01001100 11011101 10011101 110110101 10111001 01001111 11110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1020
  • Average number of words per stanza: 181
  • Amount of lines: 28
  • Average number of symbols per line: 35 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

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

  • summary of Retirement;
  • 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 Vaughan