This is an analysis of the poem A City's Death By Fire that begins with:

After that hot gospeller has levelled all but the churched sky,
I wrote the tale by tallow of a city's death by fire;...

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: ababcbcbacXXcb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 14,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: sonnet with trochaic pentameter or irregular meter
  • Metre: 1011100110110101 110111000101110 10010111011 1001011101101110 111101010101 1111111011010 110111110101 11011011010010 10101111111 10111101011 01101010100101 0011111111011 01001111111 100110100110
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 781
  • Average number of words per stanza: 153
  • Amount of lines: 14
  • Average number of symbols per line: 55 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; that is repeated.

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

  • summary of A City's Death By Fire;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Derek Walcott