An Echo by Jonathan Swift: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem An Echo that begins with:

Never sleeping, still awake,
Pleasing most when most I speak;... 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: aabbccXdeebbffggcchhddiijjhhkk
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 30,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1010101 1011111 0010111 1110101 11111011 10101011 1111111 10100010 1110111 1111111 1111111 10100001 10100101 1110101 1010101 1111101 1110111 1010111 1010111 1110111 11111110 10101010 10101010 10111110 1110011 1010111 1110101 1010101 1110101 1010011
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 919
  • Average number of words per stanza: 182
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (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; i, can, or are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines me is repeated).

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

  • summary of An Echo;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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