This is an analysis of the poem A Red Flower that begins with:

Your lips are like a southern lily red,
Wet with the soft rain-kisses of the 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: abab cdcd ebeb fgfg hihi
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111010101 1001110001 0101110101 1101010101 1101010011 0101010101 0100010101 1111011111 1110110001 1100110101 1101100111 0101111011 1111010101 11010101001 1001010101 0110010101 1011000101 11011101110 1001110101 100011110110
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 171
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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; of is repeated.

    The author used the same word your 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 A Red Flower;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Claude McKay