This is an analysis of the poem Sonnet 53: What Is Your Substance, Whereof Are You Made that begins with:

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?... 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: aaaabcbcdcdcbb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 14,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: sonnet with iambic pentameter or irregular meter
  • Metre: 1011010111 1100111111 11011100111 11111100111 0101010101 0101010101 1101110101 11010101101 10001110001 0111101101 0101110101 1101001000111 0101011111 1111111101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 594
  • Average number of words per stanza: 107
  • Amount of lines: 14
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; one, you, of are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Sonnet 53: What Is Your Substance, Whereof Are You Made;
  • 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 Shakespeare