The Monk by Ivan Turgenev: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Monk that begins with:

I used to know a monk, a hermit, a saint. He lived only for the sweetness
of prayer; and steeping himself in it, he would stand so long on the cold...

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: abab bc cdaX edXf fXXe
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,2,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101010100111101010 01110010011111101 1001101010111110 11011011011111 11011101101111110111 101111101110100 110100101001010 10 1110 101010111 1 10 100101100111000110 01 1110100101111101 11101000 1111110111
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 122
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 17
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 9

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; he, of, and, me, him, to are repeated.

    The author used the same words i, he 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 The Monk;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ivan Turgenev

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