An Hymn Upon St. Bartholomew's Day by Thomas Traherne: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem An Hymn Upon St. Bartholomew's Day that begins with:

What powerful Spirit lives within!
What active Angel doth inhabit here! ... 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: ababccdXc bebeaffaf ebebfXbfb ccddgccgc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 9,9,9,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110010101 1101010101 110010111 1111010001 0101001101 0111 01000100 110110 01 11010101 11000100111 11000101 1001110111 1011010111 1111 11111111 011101 01 11011101 1001010101 01010001 0101110101 0111010111 1010 11010011 111101 11 01010001 0111010110 101010100 0101000100 1101110101 1011 11111101 010111 01
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 263
  • Average number of words per stanza: 49
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 28 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; what, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of An Hymn Upon St. Bartholomew's Day;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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