Dirge by Herman Melville: poem analysis

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

We drop our dead in the sea,
The bottomless, bottomless sea;... 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: Aaaa AXAX XaXa Xaaa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1111001 01001001 1100101 10101011 1111001 011101 1111001 0111001 111111 11001001 1001111 11001001 11011111 1100001 111011011 101001001
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 129
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 16
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (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; dead, sea, sink, down, night, and are repeated.

    The author used the same word we 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 sea is repeated).

    The poet repeated the same word sea at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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