This is an analysis of the poem Rizpah that begins with:

And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they
hanged them in the hill before the Lord; and they fell all seven... 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: abcd eXcd X ffaaffgghheebb ffiibbaaaaffjjffdd kkjjddbbaa aaddffii ddffllffll ddbbaaddkkbbeX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,1,14,18,10,8,10,14,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 110100000100100011 100010101111110 01010101001001000 110001001010 110010011101101 001010001001001010 10101010110100100 1010101110100111 11011 110100101 111011101 010100101 1011101011 101011111 1011011111 1101010001 111100101 1100101101 111010101 1100101101 110011101 011101101 0010110101 111011111 111011101 11100101001 110111011 11111111101 0110111011 1010100111 001001101001 111010101 11001011001 1010010101 1100110101 110110111 111010101 111110101 111110101 111010101 0101111001 1010101101 1010101101 110111101 110011101 1111101001 1011010111 1110010101 11001000101 1010010111 0010100101 1111010110 010111111 1111100111 11111001001 1110100101 111011011111 1111000101 00101101001 1111010101 10100101101 111111111 1101101011 1101101001 1010011111 111101101 0110111101 1110101101 0010101101 110101101 1110110101 10100101111 11101101011 110100101 0101001001 101010101 11101101001 110100111 011110101 1010110101 0111100101 1110110101 0100101101
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 412
  • Average number of words per stanza: 79
  • Amount of lines: 84
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, in, of, upon, my, his are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of Rizpah;
  • 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 Cullen Bryant