The Disciple by Oscar Wilde: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem The Disciple that begins with:

When Narcissus died the pool of his pleasure changed from a cup of
sweet waters into a cup of salt tears, and the Oreads came weeping... 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: aXbb babXX X XXXX XXX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,5,1,4,3,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1010101001010010 11000010111010110 10111111001110 10 11111011100101 10000101111001100 111100111111101 1110010101011001 1 11010100101 11111011100101 0110111111111111 1111111001001101 1100110 10110111010011111 1111111001000111 101110100
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 181
  • Average number of words per stanza: 37
  • Amount of lines: 17
  • Average number of symbols per line: 52 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The poet repeated the same word ' at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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