This is an analysis of the poem A Litany that begins with:

I.
THE FATHER.... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: a b cdcdaeaee Xf gegehfhff X h ahXhhchcc X i ijXjXahaa a i eXefklbll a g gagafifaa X d bmbmahahh X d leleadadX X g nonolflff d g XXaXdcdcc a X kXbXlflfX X g ihahaaiai X g phphkXkff X kkbkldldhd X kjXjeXeadd X eaeadXgdd X didiidiXd X hdhdl
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,1,9,2,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,1,9,1,10,1,10,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,1,9,11,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 1 010 100101111 0111011111 110110101 1101111100 11011001 111101 0011110101 110101110 1111010101 1 01 110111011 1111010101 11011011 0101110001 10111011 110101 1100100111 11001010111 1011101101 1 0101 11011101 110111101 11010000 11001100111 10110101 1001111 1101110111 1011011101 10101110001 1 0100 11100100 1001001101 111101000 11000111001 11010100 1101100 1101110010 0111110000 0100101110001 1 01010 1111101 1101111100 10110111 1111001101 111011011 110111 1101111010 1111011111 0111110101 1 010 11011100 1101001100 100101100 11101100011 111010101 110100 1101111111 1111011100 1011110111 1 0101 11110010 1111001111 100111010 1101111111 110101111 111111 0101110001 1111010111 1111010101 1 010 11010101 1011010101 11001101 1110111101 110010101 101001 0101010111 1110011111 010101100 1 0010 110100101 0101011001 011010111 1101111111 11111111 111101 1111101111 11110010101 1111011111 1 010 11111000 1101110111 11111111 1011010101 01011101 011111 011100110 0110111101 1001000100 1 0100 1101101 0101001100 111001100 1011011100 11111111 010010 10110010101 0101010101 00010100 1 010 01110100 1111011101 11010101 1111011100 11110101 111111 1111110100 0111011101 1111000100 1 010 010010001 01011110011 11010111 0111011111 011011111 111110 1101011101 1110111111 1111011101 1 11010101 1101000111 101110010 0111011111 110011101 10010 1101001111 1011110101 010011111 1 1 01010101 1101011101 01011110 1111001101 01011101 111100 00111011111 010011111 1 0111010101 1 01010000 0101101101 01011011 1011111101 010101001 111100 0101000101 0101110101 11001010101 1 01010011 1101011100 01001110 0100111100 00010100 110100 1101110100 010110110 0111010101 1 01011101 0001011101 010111101 01001110101 11111111 100100 1111010101 101011010100 01011110111 1 11110100 10111000101 01010101 1101010001 1111010 111101 1111110011 0101011111 1111111011 1 11010101 1111011101 11111101 1111111111 11110100 110111 1001111101 0101011101 0011011111 1 11011101 1101111111 11110111 1101010100 11011011 110100 1101110101 111101010 1001110101 1 010110100 0111010001 11011001 0111111101 11101101 1111001 1100110101 0110011101101 0101001001 1 11111101 0100110111 110110100 01000100 11111111 111101 11011111111 1111010111 1101110111 1 11110100 0100010100 11010100 1100001111 11001100 110101 0101011100 1011111101 1111111111 1 11110111 1101110010 11110101 1111010101 11110100 1100001 0101111111 00101010001 1111111101 1 11010101 1011111101 11010101 1101010101 110110001 100111 1111011111 1001010101 1111011111 1 11010100 010101101 110100010 1101010001 11111001 110100 1101001101 1101011111 1111011111 1 10111111 11011100101 10101101 1111111001 11011111 111101 1101010101 1101010101 1101010110
  • Amount of stanzas: 68
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 148
  • Average number of words per stanza: 26
  • Amount of lines: 322
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; and, thy, it, in, their, to, us, or, that, from, thou, not are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words of, our, and, in, the, from, that are repeated.

    The author used the same word the 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 trinity is repeated).

    The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The word/phrase father connects the lines.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by John Donne