This is an analysis of the poem Elegy Xxiii. Reflections Suggested By His Situation that begins with:

Born near the scene for Kenelm's fate renown'd,
I take my plaintive reed, and range the grove,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: abab acac dede cdcd fbfb aeae cgcg ahah ihih ecec acac caca eaea dfdf dcdc hehe gfgf aXad Xidi jdjd hchc hehe akakXkaka
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101110101 1111011101 1111110111 01010100101 11010011001 11011000101 101010101 11010100101 1100111001010 001011100101 10010101010 0101000101 1101010101 11001010101 01001010101 1101000101 1101011101 1111010101 1101010101 0111010101 1101010101 01110101001 0111010101 1101010101 1111011101 1011000101 1100110101 0101010101 1011010111 0101010101 1111010101 0101001101 11010011101 1101010101 11000010101 1101011101 1010101 1011010101 10110001001 01110110001 11110111001 0011110101 1111011101 0101110101 1001111101 1111110101 1001110111 1111010111 1111010111 11011010101 11110111001 1101010101 1101110101 11111111001 1101110101 0101010101 1111110101 1011111101 11110100101 1101011101 0101110111 0101010101 1101010101 1101010101 1001010101 1101011101 1111011101 11001010101 11010111001 0111110110 1011010101 1011010111 1101111101 0101011001 1111110101 0101010111 11110101110 0101010101 111101001010 1101010011 1101110101 11110110101 11111100101 1111011101 1111010101 1111110001 1101010101 0101010101 1101001101 11011010101 1101001101 1101011111 1111010101 0101011101 1101010101 0111101001
  • Amount of stanzas: 24
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 179
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 96
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, how, what, to, where, that, his are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words see, there 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 Elegy Xxiii. Reflections Suggested By His Situation;
  • 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 Shenstone