This is an analysis of the poem An Ode To Mr. Howard that begins with:

Dear Howard, from the soft assaults of love
Poets and painters never are secure;... 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: abac dddd efef bgbg eheh idid jcjbXgbgb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1100010101 1011010101 1101011101 11110111010 0110011101 0101000101 1011010101 0101010101 01001010101 1111110111 1101010101 1101010101 1101110111 11001010101 1101010101 1111011101 0101010101 0101010101 1001001001 1101100101 101101101 01010000101 1101010101 1111110101 1111011101 11010001110 1111010101 1011011101 1001110101 0101111101 1111111111 10101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 176
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 32
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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; i is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of An Ode To Mr. Howard;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Matthew Prior