Corinna by Jonathan Swift: poem analysis

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

This day (the year I dare not tell)
Apollo play'd the midwife's part;... 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 eXeX XccX eeee XeXe Xfbf cgXg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 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: 01011111 010101001 00011101 11010001 11000101 11000101 11011101 10111101 11011101 011111110 111000101 111101110 010101100 10010101 11011101 11010010 11010101 10010111 01001101 11110111 11011101 111100101 11110101 11111111 11011010 10111111 10011101 110010111 010111100 0101010100 110101000 1110010100
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 140
  • Average number of words per stanza: 27
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 34 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; ', and are repeated.

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

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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