This is an analysis of the poem The Cross-Roads that begins with:

A bullet through his heart at dawn. On the table a letter signed
with a woman's name. A wind that goes howling round the house,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abccbddef ddgdXecc X X e X a X higa jkejdcdeeefcc cgXdcla ikXcccbkcbX acihceigdh Xeelke ijgle ccgmaggebc aaha ffg eaXkeecfkmifc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 9,8,1,1,1,1,1,1,4,13,7,11,10,6,5,10,4,3,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0101011110100101 00101011110101 11010110101101010 11101001101011 101001101001011 0101101110101110 111001110111010 01011000110111010 10110 0100011110110110 1011010101000010100 101010101101001 100010100110010010 1001101110101011 1010111001110101 0001110011110 1001 1101 110 10110011011110 110111 11 11011001 111100100101011 100100111011010101 111100111010010 001111110100111 111111110101010010 111110001111011 1101111011100101 1111111010100010 1011101100101001 1101101101101001 10100110011010 100110101100101001 00111111001111101 01110101010010101 0101101111110110 101110010011 1010111001 010110101011010 110100100100111 0101111111010110 00100110010011110 0111010100101 0111001110111 001110101000111 10010100011000101 0010110110010101 01110001101100100 01010101111110 10101101010110011 1010101010100101001 1010101010101011 0010101010010111 10100111010010101011 101110110111001 0111111001 01010010010101001 1111110010100101 10001001010100011101101 100010010001111010 1011010100101101 100101001111001111 101010100101101101 0011111010011 01111010010110 1011010011001011 011101110010101 11010111101111001 0011100111111 01111111101101 01011110111101 1010101 100110100101100101 001010011100111010 101101011111111101 0010010111011011 11101011110011 10100101110100101 01110101111101 1011010001010101 11110101110111011 010101101010101 11110101010111 0110101101010011 101111101010101 0101100011111011 1010110011110111 1001111100111101 10010010001011011 1101111111010 11010 0100111101110010 1010111111010 00101001 1100110111010010 11010101 110110001010101111 01100011001100101 1111001010010101 010111011100010 0101111110101010 101010101011001 1001010101001 11001010101010011 1011001000100101010 110111010111
  • Amount of stanzas: 20
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 344
  • Average number of words per stanza: 62
  • Amount of lines: 112
  • Average number of symbols per line: 61 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; dawn, cold, and, six, months, her, in, ground, it, night, of, down, stake, again, drop, wind, like, he, laughter are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words the, down are repeated.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines ' is repeated).

    The poet repeated the same words ', line at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Cross-Roads;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Amy Lowell