This is an analysis of the poem The Ballad Of The Lonely Masturbator that begins with:

The end of the affair is always death.
She's my workshop. Slippery eye, ...

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: abacdDefefdDgfgfdDbbbcdDhihidDjkjkdDlmlmdD
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 42,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: shakespearean sonnet
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 0100010111 11111001 100101111 1111101 1111111 110111001 10010111 111111010 110101101 0010111010 111110101 110111001 11100111 110010101010 00110100101 0010111110 10110101 110111001 111011001 101010011 10110101 11111101 11010111 110111001 1111101 01001010101 0010101011 10110101 111011101 110111001 111010101 0101101 11101011 111111101 011011111 110111001 01111101 1010101011 111111101 0100101101 111011011101 110111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1553
  • Average number of words per stanza: 292
  • Amount of lines: 42
  • Average number of symbols per line: 36 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; of, she's, i, they are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word they is repeated.

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

  • summary of The Ballad Of The Lonely Masturbator;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Anne Sexton