To Mr. Rowland Woodward by John Donne: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem To Mr. Rowland Woodward that begins with:

LIKE one who in her third widowhood doth profess
Herself a nun, tied to retiredness,... 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: aXX bbb cdc bbb cdd bbb eaa bbb eae fff cXc ggg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 111001100101 0101101000 10111101100 11011011011 11111010111 1101010101 1011110001 1000111010100 0100011110 1101011111 1011011110 1110011111 0111111111 1100111100 11100110100 101101010 1101011111 11111100010 1110100111 1101011101 11000100101 1101000101 1011010111 0111011110 1101011101 00101010101 1011111101 1110000101 10010101111 1101010001 1111000111 0111011110 1111010111 01101010001 1011010111 10111111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 131
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; to, as, be are repeated.

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

  • summary of To Mr. Rowland Woodward;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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