This is an analysis of the poem Iris, Her Book that begins with:

I PRAY thee by the soul of her that bore thee,
By thine own sister's spirit I implore thee,... 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: aaa bbb Xcc ddd eeX ccc bbb ddd eXe Xff ccc bbb ggg eXe eee aaaXccc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11110100111 11110101011 11000111011 11011100100 11010101010 10011111010 111101000100 11011101010 10011111010 11110101010 11010111010 11011101010 11111101010 11010101010 11110100010 110110111010 01010100010 101100111010 10011101110 1011001110010 101101001110 11111101010 11111101010 11111111010 11111101010 11010111010 010011101110 011111111100 10110111011 11010101011 11010111110 10010111010 111000001010 11001101010 100101100010 10110101010 101000011010 11010101010 11011001010 00110101010 01011101000 01010111010 00110001010 11011101110 11010101110 11010111011 100110101111 10010101011 10111001010 100111010010 111101000110
  • Amount of stanzas: 17
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 143
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 51
  • Average number of symbols per line: 47 (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; thee, her, and are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word and at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines thee, her, for are repeated).

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

  • summary of Iris, Her Book;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes