Structure and versification in The Collar

Are there stanzas?

The verse is a fairly free form, unusually for Herbert. There almost appear to be stanzas, but the form never quite resolves into stanzaic structure. This is consonant with the voice he is using, ‘wild and fierce', somewhat irrational and therefore irregular. And the same goes for the rhyme. There are rhymes, but no discernible pattern. We are led, therefore, by the voice and the sequence of imagery, as we are in much modern verse.

Investigating The Collar
  • Look at the sentence structures in The Collar
    • Do they coincide with line lengths or rhymes, or any other structural device?
    • How is the poem structured?
  • What do you think is particularly successful about the poem?
 
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