This is an analysis of the poem Song Of Myself, XL that begins with:

Flaunt of the sunshine I need not your bask—lie over!
You light surfaces only, I force surfaces and depths also.... 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: XX ab bba Xc adefd gd Xeh ae fXh XXg XeaXbdcd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,2,3,2,5,2,3,2,3,3,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1001111111110 1110010111001110 11101110111 11111111 11101111111110 11110001110001110 111110111101111 011111101010100 1111111 111001001 1011011111011 11111010110 111000110111110101 110111101 111111110101001 1111010101110101 0101111001011 10111101001 1011111100011 1101101011101101 01111001011100010 01011010111101001 10110101001 1001010111 110010111101000 11001011 11111111111011 10110010111011 10010011110111 10011001 11111111 11101110110011 11011111011011 11110010101111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 12
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 148
  • Average number of words per stanza: 30
  • Amount of lines: 34
  • Average number of symbols per line: 51 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; you, and, i, might, tell, your, not, to, of are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word i at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines cannot is repeated).

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

  • summary of Song Of Myself, XL;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Walt Whitman