This is an analysis of the poem David's Lament For Jonathan that begins with:

Thou wast hard pressed, yet God concealed this thing
From me; and thou wast wounded very sore,... 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: abaX cbcb dede fgfg hihi ffff cccc jkjk dede lcgcXlili
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111110101 0111110101 1101110101 1111010 1101010111 1111010111 0111010101 110111 1111010101 1101011011 1011110101 1001101 1011011101 10110111011 0111010011 101111 11001010101 1111001101 11011011001 111101 1111011111 0111011011 1011010101 010001 1101110001 0110111101 0110111101 111101 1101111101 1111111011 0101010111 010111 1100111101 10111111001 1001111101 1111011 1101010110 0101111101 0011001111 110111 1011010111 1101110111 1100110011 010011
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 160
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; and, thy, that are repeated.

    The author used the same word thou 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 David's Lament For Jonathan;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Mary Hannay Foott