This is an analysis of the poem Empire Building that begins with:

Somehow I never liked you, John, your ways were crude
Your smile was pharisaical, your manners rude;...

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: aabbccddeebfXbbXX ggcceebb ffhhcXii jjkkkXfXggfXfXcc Xfkk eeggbbccllaammmmffkkfX iiffkkmmiihhdaagaa bbcXbbbbggmmiiaaeebbaa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 17,8,8,16,4,22,18,22,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 111101111101 11110001101 1111010101 1011010111 1101010101 1101010101 1101010101 10110101001 0101011001 11110010111 0101001101 1101011101 0111011100 0111011101 1111011101 100101010 1101110100 1101010111 11111100111 1111110101 0101110101 01011101101 0101011101 1101101101 0101010111 1101110101 1111010101 1101110101 1111111101 1101011111 0101110100 1111110111 1101010111 0101010110 1101010000 0111011111 0011011111 1111110111 11010101101 1111110111 10110111111 1101110111 1101111101 1101010101 0101110111 1101110111 1101011101 1111011101 11001111111 1101011101 1111010111 1111110101 1101110101 1101110111 1111110101 11110011111 1101111101 1111100101 1011011001 1111110111 1101110101 0011110111 1111110101 1101001101 11010101111 1101010101 0101110101 0101010101 1111110101 1011010101 1101000101 1011010111 0101111111 1101110111 1101011011 0101011101 0101110101 1111011111 0110011101 1101110101 1111110011 0101010101 1101110001 0101111101 0100111110 1100010101 0111010101 1011011101 0101001101 0101011101 0111110101 1111111101 0101010011 1111010101 1111010101 1101111111 0101110100 1101010101 1101010111 1001000111 1101000111 1101011111 1001010101 1111010110 1101110101 11011110011 01010110101 1101010101 1011010101 0111010101 0101010111 1111011101 1111010001 111101111111 11010001101
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 634
  • Average number of words per stanza: 121
  • Amount of lines: 115
  • Average number of symbols per line: 43 (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; your, and, you, so, i, them, how, to, her, of, as are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Empire Building;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Dora Sigerson Shorter