This is an analysis of the poem The Red Dance that begins with:

There was a girl
who danced in the city that night,...

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: abXcXXXdebXbffdXbcgXhfdbddgcfehdXafdeecXcg
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 42,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101 11001011 1101 10101010 01101101010 11110110101 01010001000 1110111 0110100 01111 0011001 1110101011 1010010 101101010 1110111 111011 11100100 11010010 111111 101001 101010001 101010100011 10101101 111111 01011 011001101 110111 101101010 11010 10111101001 0110011 1010001 1111111011 101000100100 101010101 101101111001 1011011000 110111 0100100 1110110001 10101110 10101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1403
  • Average number of words per stanza: 268
  • Amount of lines: 42
  • Average number of symbols per line: 32 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, danced are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Red Dance;
  • 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