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

When Scaliger, whole years of labour past,
Beheld his lexicon complete at last... 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: aabbccddee aXffddggXXbbaaff ggeeddaaeehhbbiiddbb XgbbffddXbddiiddffffbbbbddjjaaffddXffaaii
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,16,20,41,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1100100111 1001010111 1100010101 1011110101 1101001001 0101110111 1001111101 0101010101 0100010111 1011010101 1111110001 1101110101 11110100101 111110001 01010010101 0101010101 1111010101 101101011101 0101000101 1101011101 0101111101 11010010101 01100010101 10001010101 1011010101 1011010111 1111110101 1001010001 1110010111 1111011001 1011010001 0101000101 1011010111 1101110101 10001011101 11011111001 01110001001 1111010101 1101010101 1101110101 0111001101 110100101001 01010101010 11011111010 1101010101 11010100001 11011111010 1111110101 0100011101 0101000101 11111101101 1101010101 1101110011 1111110101 11111101100 1101011101 0111111101 1111011101 1101111101 1111110101 01010111101 0111011101 1111110101 1001111101 0101010101 01010011101 0101011101 0101010101 0101010101 0101110111 10011111101 1101110001 1111010111 1101001101 1111110101 1011010101 1101010001 1101010101 0101110101 1101110001 1101110101 01010011101 1101010011 01110011001 10101010101 1011111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 750
  • Average number of words per stanza: 133
  • Amount of lines: 86
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; and, no, of, where are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word the 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 Samuel Johnson