Extinguish Thou My Eyes by Rainer Maria Rilke: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Extinguish Thou My Eyes that begins with:

Extinguish Thou my eyes:I still can see Thee,
deprive my ears of sound:I still can hear Thee,...

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: aaaa aXbXa Xb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,5,2,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 010111001111 01110101111 1011111101 1011111101 10110111011 0111100101 01111101110 11110111101 0100110101 0101101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 146
  • Average number of words per stanza: 29
  • Amount of lines: 11
  • 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; i, still, can, thee, my are repeated.

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

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

    The poet repeated the same word thee 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 Extinguish Thou My Eyes;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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