This is an analysis of the poem Ash-Wednesday that begins with:

Glitt’ring balls and thoughtless revels
Fill up now each misspent night—...

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: abcbdede XfdfagXg Xhdhcfcf cgagdfcf abibbhXh igagcjXj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10111010 1111011 10101110 01000101 100111010 10101001 11111010 1111101 11101010 1110111 10111010 10100101 10101110 1010111 10111110 1011101 10101010 1110111 10101110 0110101 10101010 1110101 11111010 1010111 101110110 1110101 10101110 1111101 111010010 1110111 11101110 1001111 11101110 0110101 01101001 1110001 10101011 0010101 101010100 1010101 111001010 1011101 00111010 0010001 10101010 1010101 10111111 1010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 264
  • Average number of words per stanza: 47
  • Amount of lines: 48
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and is repeated.

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

    The author used the same word and at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

  • summary of Ash-Wednesday;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon