This is an analysis of the poem I Am An Atheist Who Says His Prayers that begins with:

I am an atheist who says his prayers.
I am an anarchist, and a full professor at that. I take the loyalty oath....

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: a X b c c d d X b X e X a X e f c XXf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1111001101 111100101010111101001 110101110101010111001 1110001001100111010011100 1111111101011110100100100 01001011111010001010111101 1101010111111101010010100010010111011010011011000001 10101000100111111111000100 11001110101001110111110100101000110000111 110010010101000100010111101111010 11010100010110111100111111010 1101001101101001001000111100000100101001011010111011010111010011111111011 11110101011011100101101001110111 01010101001100100 010100101100001111111010111110 1010001011111010101111111001111110110 010111010100100010010100101101010001010010100100110001000100101010010010101101010011011111010101110110 1100111011101111100111100010101110000111011101001110101110111 10111011111011001101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 19
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 133
  • Average number of words per stanza: 25
  • Amount of lines: 19
  • Average number of symbols per line: 133 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 25
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; i, and, of, my are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of I Am An Atheist Who Says His Prayers;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Karl Shapiro