This is an analysis of the poem The Bridge: Cutty Sark that begins with:

I met a man in South Street, tall—
a nervous shark tooth swung on his chain. ... full text

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: abcdebbfeg hi f jf hdkfclemd n amfXbb bflb iXfX hfifXe ffh Xmi lXbbme X hXfnn eab bbXie j XXb kgg hXge iXa
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,2,1,2,9,1,6,4,4,6,3,3,6,1,5,3,5,1,3,3,4,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: ballad stanza
  • Metre: 11010111 010111101 011111 11011110 1 1 1 1 11010111 111100101 00100010101 101101000101 11011101 100010011 11110011 01101010101 0111111111 1110111011 100100110101 101010101 110111110010 1011111001 1110111001 1110111 110111 1101010111001 010111001 1101101011 11110000101 010101 110101 10101101 11000100010 11001000100010 101111 1 11011010101 1101010011 1111111 1100110001 1110110101 10111110 1111110111 111111010 110101011 01011101 0111000101 1101010 10010 111000101 10 01101101010 10101000101 1101110111 1111001101 110011010011 10011 1101010101 110100100101 101001 11011 11000111 11010111 11001111 1011001101 11010101 110100011101 01010 101000 1010100110 10011101 010010101 10011101110 1001110111000 1011011101 11011001 110011 11111101 10010011110110 11010 1101001110 1011101 01110 10 100
  • Amount of stanzas: 23
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 152
  • Average number of words per stanza: 22
  • Amount of lines: 86
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (strings are more 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; s, time, i, it, of, running, sands, and are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Bridge: Cutty Sark;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Harold Hart Crane