This is an analysis of the poem The House-Top that begins with:

No sleep. The sultriness pervades the air
And blinds the brain-a dense oppression, such... 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: aXbXbcXddaXbXcXXeffdebXbeee
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 27,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101000101 1101010101 1101010101 10111101110 0101010101 10110010111 1100011011 010101001010 1011010101 10001110111 0101010111 1100101101 1101111101 1101000101 1101110101 1111111010 1001110111 110011101 1101100111 0101001111 0101010101 1101000101 11110101100 1101110101 010110010101 1111010000 110101010001
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1173
  • Average number of words per stanza: 206
  • Amount of lines: 27
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; rats is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The House-Top;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Herman Melville