This is an analysis of the poem Ode On The Death Of A Lady, Who Lived One Hundred Years, And Died On Her Birthday, 1728 (Translation) that begins with:

Ancient dame, how wide and vast
To a race like ours appears,... 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: abab cbcb dede bdbd ffff ffff fgfg dhdh aiaiXafaf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1011111 0011101 1001111 1110100 1010101 10101010 1010101 1010101 1010101 1010001 1010111 1010101 1010001 1011101 1111101 1110001 1011001 1000101 1011111 1111101 1111111 1011111 1010101 1101111 00101110 10010101 11101010 00100011 10011101 1010011 1010111 1011001 1110101 1110101 1010001 1010101 1110010 10101001 1111101 1110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 10
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 120
  • Average number of words per stanza: 22
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; of, that, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Ode On The Death Of A Lady, Who Lived One Hundred Years, And Died On Her Birthday, 1728 (Translation);
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by William Cowper