This is an analysis of the poem The Vanity Of Human Wishes that begins with:

Let observation with extensive view,
Survey mankind, from China to Peru; ... 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: aabbccddddeeccccffgg ddddffff ddddXXdd hhhhddbb ffii ggcceeddccffjjhhaakk ddiX ccllddiiffeeddkkll mmkkddggcchhcckkccddhhffllccdd ffddccnnoo ffaahhiXiiffkkiiddppcciiXell ddffffff mmhhXfdd ffffiihhqqee ccddffaa eeppffccccrrffffkkddddcc ddccffkkeeiXccffdd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 20,8,8,8,4,20,4,18,30,10,28,8,8,12,8,24,26,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1101000101 0111010001 0111011101 1101010101 11111101011 10001010101 1101011101 0101010101 1101000101 1101110100 1101010101 1011110101 1101110101 1101000101 11010111001 1101011101 0101010101 0101010101 0101010101 110101000011 1101010101 1001010001 1101110101 1101001011 11010100101 11010010101 1111111101 0101010101 1101110101 11001010101 1101001001 1111010101 1101010101 1101010001 0101010101 1100010101 0101000111 1011110101 11011111001 0101010101 11010110001 0101011101 1111010101 1101011101 1111010101 1110110101 1101010111 101001010101 1110000111 0101010101 1101010101 11010110101 11111110001 1101111001 1101010101 1101001111 1111010101 11011100101 11010011101 11001011101 1111110101 1011110101 0101110001 1111010101 0101011101 0101010101 1101111101 11110011111 1101110101 0111011101 1111111101 11001110101 10001011001 1011110001 10010110101 1111010111 1101010101 1111101111 1101010101 1001010011 1101010101 0101010001 01001010101 11010100001 1101010101 0101010101 1111110101 0101010001 0101010101 11000110101 1101010101 01010110111 1101010001 1001010001 10101010101 11010101001 11110101001 1101100101 1111010101 1101010101 1101100101 1111011001 1111010101 1101110001 1101001101 11100100101 1101110101 1101000101 1101110101 1100010111 1111011101 1101010111 1101010111 1101010001 1111010101 1101010101 1101011101 0101010101 0111010101 1101110101 1111001101 0101000101 1101010111 0101010111 0101110110 0101010101 11110011101 1101011001 0101111101 1101111111 0111010101 0101010101 1001011101 1101000101 11010010001 1111010001 0111010101 0101010101 0101010101 1111011111 1101011101 1100010101 0111010101 11010100001 110111101001 11010101001 1111010101 11010001001 1101001101 0101110001 0101011101 0101011101 1101110101 1101001101 0101110110 0101000101 0101010101 1101011100 10001000101 11011101011 11000010101 1101010101 1101011101 0101110001 1101000101 1001110111 1101000101 1011010111 11110100001 1101010001 1101010010 1101010101 0101010101 1110111101 1110010101 0101010101 1101010101 0101010101 1101010101 1100010101 1101010101 1111010101 1101110101 1011010101 11001010101 1101010101 11111101101 1110000101 0101110101 1101000101 0111110001 1001110001 0101010101 11010010101 0101010101 1111010001 11111101001 1101011101 11010111001 1101110001 1101010001 1101010111 1101001101 1101010001 1111110111 1111011111 0111010101 0101010101 0101010101 1111011001 10001110101 1111010101 0111110101 0101010101 010011101001 1101011101 1101010101 1101000101 1111111101 1101010101 1101010001 1101010001 1101011101 1101010001 0101010101 1111110101 1110010001 1101010101 1001110101 0101100101 0101000101 01100111101 11010101010 11010001010 1111010101 01001010001 1111010111 11010101001 11110101001 1111010001 1111010101 1111110101 0101010101 1101001111
  • Amount of stanzas: 18
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 635
  • Average number of words per stanza: 101
  • Amount of lines: 246
  • Average number of symbols per line: 46 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; his, and, of, in, nor, your, by, no, for are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words with, for, nor, the, whose, now, whom, must, these are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Vanity Of Human Wishes;
  • 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