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

Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,...

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: a b b c X d X a c e a b b e f b g h d a b i j h j b k k X k f h b k g h b b f b d X h k f k b k c b a X i a Xb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,2,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1011101001001 011101001101 111101011010 1100001001010 1101010 101100110001 1101101 1101010001 1100101001 10111101001 001011111 0110010 100110101 11101 01001101010 1010110010110 110001 110001001 0110010110011 1011011 1111111110 110101100010 110100111010 1011 0101101010 1110001 110110110110 10010010110 10110001011 101011110 10001011010 1100011 11000110110 11001 1110101 1110011101 001010010110 01101101 01010101010010 1011111011 0010110 11100110110 111100010101 11101001 1110010101010010 011100001 101001010110 01110011 101010011 1001101 110001 110101001 110001110100 110110101101001 01001000001000101101010
  • Amount of stanzas: 55
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 39
  • Average number of words per stanza: 7
  • Amount of lines: 56
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (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; i, and, in, names, of are repeated.

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

    The author used the same words names, a at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

  • summary of The Names;
  • 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