This is an analysis of the poem Prayer For A Birthday that begins with:
My privilege and my proof, pressing your eternal skin to mine—
I feel your fingers touching down on the crown of my head ...
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: ab cd cX ba ef Xb cd aX ga hd Xa ei ch aa ha dd Xi ha hd jc gf hh ci hh hj aX ba Xc
- Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2,
- Closest metre: iambic pentameter
- Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
- Сlosest stanza type: tercets
- Guessed form: blank verse
- Metre: 1100111101010101 11110101101011 11110110011001 01000011011 11010111101 11110110101100 00100101011110101 01010111010 1001010010101 011011110111111 10100101011 1111110100101 1010101 1111111 0101111011001111 001111101000101 11111110 011111111 1010001110011 0110111111 010011001001011 1001010110111 1111110111 011101100101 100100111111 01101011001 01101010111 111101011 11111011001 100101011010 1101101111 1010110110101 01100110100111101010 0011101011001 010111011001101 01010100101 10010111010110011001 1110001110111001 1111111001010 10010001111101101 1101101111 111001101111101 111101011011000 1101001110 1111110001 011010010 110011001001 1011000111011 10111010101 10101011010 001010101000101 110100101001 1110111101001 1111011 11101011100 11110000110101
- Amount of stanzas: 28
- Average number of symbols per stanza: 103
- Average number of words per stanza: 20
- Amount of lines: 56
- Average number of symbols per line: 51 (strings are more long than medium ones)
- Average number of words per line: 10
Mood of the speaker:
The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.
The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; my, your, of, i, and, you, with, in are repeated.
The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word the is repeated.
The author used the same word the at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.
If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:
- summary of Prayer For A Birthday;
- central theme;
- idea of the verse;
- history of its creation;
- critical appreciation.
Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!
Pay attention: the program cannot take into account all the numerous nuances of poetic technique while analyzing. We make no warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability with respect to the information.
