This is an analysis of the poem His Meditation Upon Death that begins with:

BE those few hours, which I have yet to spend,
Blest with the meditation of my end; ... 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: aabbccddaaccaaeebbffddggddhhddcciicc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 36,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 01110111101 1001010011 1101010010 0101110100 1101010001 0111101111 010101111 101101010 1111111001 1111110000 1001110101 0111111101 1101011011 110100010 1101011101 0111111101 1011100101 0111011101 1111010011 1001111101 1011011101 110111010 1101101101 0101010111 0101110101 010110010 1111111101 111101010 1111110101 0101010001 1001001101 1010010100 1111011111 1100111101 1001010111 1101001100
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1549
  • Average number of words per stanza: 289
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; me, i, to, my are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of His Meditation Upon Death;
  • 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 Herrick