... and hauntingly frightening, but the mood of the poem is strangely contradicting. The persona never hints at fear or anxiety. The first two stanzas are written in alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. So as the metrical pattern moves back and forth rhythmically, so does the persona's heartbeat. The encounter with the snake slithering by steadily is nonthreatening. In fact, at ... to the cautiousness exercised by the persona, the reader is hesitant to let their guard down because the poem's next move is unpredictable. The first line of the poem is iambic followed by ...

• Word Count: 1710
• Approx Pages: 7

... lust will turn into ashes. The dominant poetic device is its metrical system. It has a unique meter and rhyme scheme, unlike the common iambic pentameter used in England at the time this poem was written. It is written in iambic tetrameter and it thoroughly makes use of end rhymes in couplets ("twos"). For example, Line 1 (Had we but world enough, and ... ...

• Word Count: 1363
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... out the poem. The structure of the poem itself is an example of comic irony. It is written in ballad form where four-line stanzas alternate using iambic tetrameter on the first and third lines and iambic triameter on the second and fourth lines. This creates a lyrical, jaunty rhythm, contrasting with the dark themes and sensory imagery of the poem. The first stanza ... ...

• Word Count: 1321
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School