This is an analysis of the poem The Preparative that begins with:

My Body being Dead, my Limbs unknown;
Before I skilled [sic] to prize ... 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: abbaaaccaaddddeeddffgXdgbbddhh
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 30,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101011101 0111101 110111 0111110011 01111101 1111001101 11010111 1111111001 1101 0111110101 1111110101 010101 110101 11011110101 11110101 1101000101 11010101 0101110101 1111 0101010100 1111110001 110100 111101 0101011001 01010011 11010100101 01010101 1011000111 11001 01011111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 997
  • Average number of words per stanza: 190
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • 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; my, or, whose, no are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words before, no are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Preparative;
  • 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 Traherne