What Is To Come by William Ernest Henley: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem What Is To Come that begins with:

What is to come we know not. But we know
That what has been was good--was good to show,... 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: aabXa aabC aabbXC
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,4,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: rondeau
  • Metre: 1001111111 1110101001 1001110101 1101000110 1111111110101 1111011101 1111100011 1101111111 1001 1011111101 1011011101 1101011111 1111011111 0011000101 1001
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 206
  • Average number of words per stanza: 43
  • Amount of lines: 15
  • Average number of symbols per line: 40 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 9

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; to, we, have are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word come at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of What Is To Come;
  • 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 Ernest Henley

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