Sometimes It Happens by Brian Patten: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Sometimes It Happens that begins with:

And sometimes it happens that you are friends and then
You are not friends,...

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: aXbCX aXbCd aXbX aXbab Xaeebd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,5,4,5,6,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 101010111111 1111 11011 111111010 0101001 101010111111 1111 1101 111111010 01010010001 10111010011 111101 101010011 1111110010 110010110110111 101101 11111 10011111 101001 11110 1100111011 1110101001110 11010 11001 101010010001
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 171
  • Average number of words per stanza: 32
  • Amount of lines: 25
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (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, to, matter are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word and at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

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

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

  • summary of Sometimes It Happens;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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