Epistle To John Maxwell, Esq., Of Terraughty by Robert Burns: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Epistle To John Maxwell, Esq., Of Terraughty that begins with:

HEALTH to the Maxwell's veteran Chief!
Health, aye unsour'd by care or grief:... 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: aaabXb bbbcbc dddXXX eXXfef Xffffff
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 100111001 111001111 0101110101 0011 11110111 1111 0111010010 111111010 010111010 01010 1101110110 01010 0100101110 110110110 1100011010 110110 101101010 0101 111111110 11011101 1110111 0101 1101110010 1011 100111011 110111011 111111111 11111 011111011 11111
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 192
  • Average number of words per stanza: 35
  • Amount of lines: 34
  • 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, ye are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of Epistle To John Maxwell, Esq., Of Terraughty;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Robert Burns

Poems about...
✕