This is an analysis of the poem The Whitest Man I Know that begins with:

HE’S acruisin’ in a pearler with a dirty nigger crew,
Abuyin’ pearls and copra for a stingy Spanish Jew,... 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: aabbcbdb eeff gcbbc ggff hfbf iiXhjjbbbb jjkkbXjjjj bbffhhlmml ccddaabddb X
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,4,5,4,4,10,10,10,10,1,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 110000100010101 10011101010101 101011101010101 11101010101111 10100111011111 101010101010101 11101111110101 00101110111111 1010101011110101 010111101010111 111101001110111 111111001110101 1010101111100110 111011101111101 1111111 1011001 101011101000101 111100100111001 111010001111111 111100101110101 111110101010111 1111111011101010 011101101111101 10101111110101 001010101110001 101000011010101 11011111110001 1111010111111 11010101011100 10101010 11111110 101111111110001 1111001 1110101 101100101111101 111110101110101 11110110110101 01010101110101 11010101110111 1111010 11101000 111011101110101 1110101 0010101 101010110010001 01010110111101 11100011101111 111000111111111 101010111111111 00111110 10111010 111110100011 1110101 1110101 111110111110001 111110101010101 111000101010111 101011101110001 001011000010101 1010111 1010101 100010101010101 1110111 1110101 00101110011111
  • Amount of stanzas: 11
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 319
  • Average number of words per stanza: 67
  • Amount of lines: 66
  • Average number of symbols per line: 52 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; he, and, d, she, him, in, that, i, s are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The poet repeated the same word at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of The Whitest Man I Know;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by John Milton Hayes