This is an analysis of the poem The Brief Journey West that begins with:

By the dry road the fathers cough and spit,
This is their room. They are the ones who hung ...

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: aXXb ccaa dXdb dXXX efdf beff aXXd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 1011010111 0011110111 1101010101 1101010001 01010101101 0111011101 1101011111 0100010101 0101010101 01010100101 001011100101 0101110101 1101110001 1101110011 11010100110 11010100010 1111110101 1001010001 1101101101 1111111101 1001110101 0101000111 1101010001 01001000101 1111110101 11010010111 0101001111 0101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 173
  • Average number of words per stanza: 31
  • Amount of lines: 30
  • Average number of symbols per line: 40 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

  • summary of The Brief Journey West;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Howard Nemerov