This is an analysis of the poem What Is Life? that begins with:
And what is Life? An hour-glass on the run,
A mist retreating from the morning sun,... 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: aabXbX aacac Xdede cXcXfcfc
- Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,5,5,8,
- Closest metre: iambic pentameter
- Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
- Сlosest stanza type: tercets
- Guessed form: blank verse
- Metre: 11011101101 0101000101 01010010101 0101010101 1100010101 1001010101 1101010101 1001010101 1111000111 0111010001 1111010101 1101010110 11010010101 01110010101 1111010001 1111110101 1101110001 01000100100 1101111101 1101000100 1101011101 0110010101 1100110101 0111010001
- Amount of stanzas: 4
- Average number of symbols per stanza: 258
- Average number of words per stanza: 46
- Amount of lines: 24
- Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
- Average number of words per line: 8
Mood of the speaker:
The speaker asks many questions. Perhaps, he or she is in confusion.
The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; of, and, to are repeated.
The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word a is repeated.
The author used the same word and 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 What Is Life?;
- central theme;
- idea of the verse;
- history of its creation;
- critical appreciation.
Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!
Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.
