A Prologue by John Dryden: poem analysis

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

Gallants, a bashful poet bids me say,
He's come to lose his maidenhead to-day. ... 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: aabbccddcceeeeeaXffgghhiiddeeddiiddiii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 38,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1001010111 1101010001 0111111101 11111000101 110100101010 11010001010 11100011101 0111000101 1011010101 11110100001 1111111101 1011110101 1111011001 0111111111 1110011001 1101010111 1001010100 1001010101 1110110101 1101010001 1011111101 10110011010 10111001010 0101011111 1110111101 1111011101 11110111011 10111100010 11111101110 1011010111 0111010101 11010000101 1101110101 0111010101 011000101 1101100111 0101010101 1111010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1688
  • Average number of words per stanza: 311
  • Amount of lines: 38
  • 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; his, you, and, for, to, he are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word he is repeated.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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