This is an analysis of the poem Whitsunday that begins with:

When God of old came down from Heaven,
In power and wrath He came;... 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: abab cdcd bebe afaf gbgb hfhf ffff aiai jfjf iaia khkh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 110111010 0101111 010101010 110111 010100101 010101 01011101 011101 11110101 1101011 10111101 100101 010111111 010101 110101001 1100101 11011101 100101 111110101 010101 11110111 010101 01110101 100111 11010011 110101 010101101 010101 11010101 111101 101110101 110001 01010101 010101 10010111 111001 01011111 010101 11111011 1010010 111101110 101101 1111101010 111111
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 130
  • Average number of words per stanza: 23
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; it is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words a, the are repeated.

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

  • summary of Whitsunday;
  • 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 Keble