 The narrator 's tone is informal and conversational , attempting to conjure the picture of a dialogue between the reader and the speaker ( who is evidently Auden himself , speaking directly in the first person as he does in a large proportion of his work ) . The informality is established syntactically by <unk> — only 13 of the poem 's 93 lines are clearly end @-@ stopped . There are few instances of rhyme , and about half the lines end on unaccented syllables . The lines alternate 13 syllables incorporating five or six accents with 11 syllables and four accents . Auden adapted this syllabic construction from Marianne Moore . The pattern is reinforced by the line indentation and confirmed by Auden 's own reading . This structure mitigates the tendency of normally accented English speech to fall into the rhythm of iambic pentameter . Swift changes in the sophistication of diction also occur in the poem , as in conversation , and lend it an immediate , informal quality . 
