Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul by William Cowper: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul that begins with:

Breathe from the gentle south, O Lord,
And cheer me from the north; ... 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 acac dede fgfg fhfh ihih
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10010111 111001 11010011 110101 111100001 110101 11010101 110101 11010101 011101 10010001 111101 11110101 111101 01110101 011101 11010101 110101 110010111 110101 110101001 110101 11110111 011111
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 124
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (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; and is repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words i, and are repeated.

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

  • summary of Olney Hymn 34: The Waiting Soul;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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