This is an analysis of the poem Psalm 63 that begins with:

Longing after God; or, The love of God better than life.
Great God, indulge my humble claim,... 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: X abab cdcd cece fgfg bhbh idid bdbdXgcgc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 10101101011011 11011101 11111111 01010111 11010111 11101111 11110111 11111101 11110101 01111101 11110111 11000101 11010101 010111101 01111111 11111101 110100101 11111111 11011101 11110101 11110101 11010111 11010101 110100101 01010001 0101001001 11010111 11011101 11010011 11111111 11110111 01111101 11010011
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 132
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 33
  • Average number of symbols per line: 35 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; my, god, and, thou, thy are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word with 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 Psalm 63;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Isaac Watts