This is an analysis of the poem Meditations In An Emergency that begins with:

Am I to become profligate as if I were a blonde? Or religious
as if I were French?...

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: aX aXXX aX b cd bbefXfegXX hgiihihiejX jfk aeeXfedija c iek aiXeX ihXfjd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,4,2,1,2,10,11,3,10,1,3,5,6,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110011011010011010 10101 1111010011110100 1101110101101000 1110111001010 10101 11111111110111 101 1101100011110101 1011011010111001 110110101 110111011100100 1001100101110010 01010101111010 11011011010011011 1001010101111011 10100111110111011 1000110010100010 101011010101001 101010011111110 11 1111110111101 110010011001000101 01011111111111001 10111010011011011 101111010111010 10101111111011 111111100110 100101001111011000 01011101110110010 1110111101000111 111101 11010111101110010 10000100110100001011 0100 110011110010110 10111000101110010 1011111111100 1000101011101001 0100100011101111 10010101101011010 1011001100011010 101101011010101 011101101001001000 1010111 01100111 0010001000010000111 01101010111010 10101110101010 10010101101000101 1111101111101011 11110110101110 1001111101011110 0101110101 110110111010111 1001010111010100 0101111011111111 11110010101101 011101011110110 011011
  • Amount of stanzas: 13
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 254
  • Average number of words per stanza: 48
  • Amount of lines: 60
  • Average number of symbols per line: 54 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 10
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; i, of, me, in, and, you, go are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Meditations In An Emergency;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Frank O'Hara