This is an analysis of the poem Sermon In A Churchyard that begins with:

Let pious Damon take his seat,
With mincing step and languid smile, ... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: ababcdcd efeXeaea gfgfchch afafijij fhfhdfdf ddddfafa ijijicic adadagag hfhfdddd ckcklhlX dbdbibibXihihaeae
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,8,17,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 11010101 01011101 11000101 101010010 110101001 111101010 11011101 111001010 101100111 11010101 01010101 1101000110 11011111 11010101 11111101 11111001 11010101 11010101 100111101 01010011 01111101 11111111 11011101 11001110 11011111 11111111 11111101 11110101 11110101 1111110010 01011101 111111010 11010111 01110111 11111101 11011111 110011010 10111111 110101010 0100110001 100110111 100110111 1000110001 11110111 10111111 011100101 010101111 11010111 01110111 011101110 11010101 0101010010 11000111 11010000 10011111 01011101 11110111 11011101 10110101 11000101 11011101 10010101 10110111 10111101 11011101 101110101 11110101 01110111 110010101 1101001010 110010101 010101110 11010101 01010111 10010111 01110111 110111111 101011110 10111101 11001100 11110111 11011101 11011101 11001101 11110111 11010111 11000111 11000101 11110101 10110101 11100101 11001101 11111111 11111111 11011101 11011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 304
  • Average number of words per stanza: 54
  • Amount of lines: 96
  • Average number of symbols per line: 37 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; and, his, like, thy, whate'er, to, of, our, how, many, same, that, we, all are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, let, some, whate'er, whether, how, that are repeated.

    The author used the same words let, dost, here 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 Sermon In A Churchyard;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Thomas Babbington Macaulay