The opening line of “Epilogue” follows the form and tone of older, more traditional English poetry. The straightforward, measured iambic rhythm and archaic diction accomplish this reference on their own, but Lowell ensures the effect lands by calling almost comical attention to the traditionalism in the opening line by accenting the final syllable in “blessèd” (Line 1). Of course, the “blessèd structures, plot and rhyme” (Line 1) give way to the informal and arhythmic question: “why are they no help to me now” (Line 2)? The poem here performs a kind of false start, a tongue-in-cheek traditional opening that collapses under the poet’s pressing and honest personal questioning.

The question which presses on the speaker is why the features of prosody offer “no help to [him]” (Line 2) as he attempts to write a poem that is “imagined, not recalled” (Line 4). The importance of this question to the speaker’s artistic practice is highlighted by the notably short third line, “I want to make,” which summarizes the impetus of the poem in miniature (Line 3).

After the opening quatrain—a single sentence which defines the rhetorical direction of the poem—the speaker of the poem turns to reflection.