This is an analysis of the poem The First Night that begins with:

Before I opened you, Jiménez,
it never occurred to me that day and 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: Xab cda dXa Xbd XeX cXX XbX dXeXeee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,7,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 01110110 01001011111 101001011000101 11111100 01010001101 100110010111 1011101 01100100001 1001100101 01011111101 11010101000101 101000101 0011001 011110111 101101001001 011100010 1011111 111010101 101101101001 1110101101101 100010101 0010101000111 0111110 110000101 10111011111 11001 1010000101
  • Amount of stanzas: 9
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 119
  • Average number of words per stanza: 23
  • Amount of lines: 27
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

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

  • summary of The First Night;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Billy Collins