A Poem For Myself by Etheridge Knight: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem A Poem For Myself that begins with:

I was born in Mississippi;
I walked barefooted thru the mud....

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: ababXbcDcDedeFbFXfGHGHffABABab
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 30,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 11101010 111000101 1101010 11000101 11110101 111110 110110 1110101 1110110 1110101 11111110 111010111 111010 00110001 1010001 00110001 11101 1110111 10001011 0011101 10001011 0011101 11111110101 010111100111 10101010 010110 10101010 010110 100101010 110010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 935
  • Average number of words per stanza: 176
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; in, her, to are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of A Poem For Myself;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Etheridge Knight

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