This is an analysis of the poem Gnothi Seauton that begins with:

I
If thou canst bear... 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: a bcbcdadae X efffffgffgghh X gfdXii X daXdjijfbahe a fekijlfgmlg a ieidlf X ccnaajieeee X ngjXnbjjccXiiggff X fAmAeAXedgjfjXiji j eneeaeXoo aXkdkdd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,9,1,13,1,6,1,12,1,11,1,6,1,11,1,17,1,17,1,9,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1 0111 110101 0111101 0111001111 11011011 1101 0011001100 0001010101 1101 1 10011 111111 100101 01110101 10110111 0100 1000001 11110011 11111101 01110101 11110101 10101001 1001101 1 111011 1001110011 1011 011110 0010011 01010111 1 11011 10101 00111101 01011101 1111100101 11111001 10110001 01010101 00110011 1100011 01011111 111101 1 1101 1111001 11111 11010111 11011101 00100010 10110101 101101 1101 11110001100 111101 1 00010111101 11101 010101 0101101 111101010 01010010011 1 111101 1001111101 11101001 110101001 11010101 0101010100 101010101 010100110 11111 011101 1101 1 1101 010111010 0111011001 00110011100 0101 0101110101 0100 11101101 10111011 1001000101 110101110 110010 01111110 001010001 1010101 1011011 1010111 1 1011101 101 1011101 101 11001101 101 101101 1110101 111010 100101000101 0101 01000100011 110100 11011101 0111010 10101 0101 1 0101 1011 1010101 1010101 1 1010111 11011 1110101 1010111 1 11111100111 1100010011 1111010101 1011000101 1110011001
  • Amount of stanzas: 22
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 161
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 127
  • Average number of symbols per line: 27 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, to, thee are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words it, and, the, thou are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Gnothi Seauton;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson