This is an analysis of the poem Elegy, Written In The Year 1758 that begins with:

Still, shall unthinking man substantial deem
The forms that fleet through life's deceitful dream?... 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: aabbccdd eeccffggaahh iiddXbccddbbggjjddjjcc kkffbbbbaa cciiiiccjj iiggllddjjddddffccjjcchhXccffiiddhh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,12,22,10,10,35,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1101010101 0111110101 1111011001 11010100101 1111010101 111110101 1010010101 01011000111 11110010101 1100010101 11001010101 10001010101 11110110101 0101010101 1101010101 1001110101 1101001001 11111010101 1111001101 11011010101 11001100101 1101110101 110100100101 1111010101 110101001110 01010001001 1101110101 10001010101 1101011111 1101010101 1101110101 1111110101 11111100101 1111110101 1101010101 1101010001 11110110001 1101110001 1111010101 0110000101 1111110101 1101010101 11010110101 11010001001 1101010101 1101010101 1001011101 11001000101 1111010111 1001010101 1101100001 1101001101 1101110101 1111010101 1101011101 1101010101 1101110101 0111110101 11010110101 0101111101 11010101001 11010100001 1101111101 110010100111 1101110101 0101000101 11110100110 11010111010 11110101010 01011101010 1111011101 1101010101 10011010101 1101110101 11110101001 1011010101 11010010101 100110101001 010100011001 100010100011 110010101001 110101001001 1101110101 1101010101 1101010101 1101110111 0101111101 0101110101 11010110001 1101010101 1101010101 10011010101 1101011111 110110001 1011010101 0101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 613
  • Average number of words per stanza: 104
  • Amount of lines: 96
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (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; and, in, to are 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 Elegy, Written In The Year 1758;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by James Beattie