This is an analysis of the poem The Fly that begins with:

O hideous little bat, the size of snot,
With polyhedral eye and shabby clothes, ...

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: abcbXdde fggghddh bhdhijji Xbfbckkc aadaabba Xiadabeeb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,9,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 11001010101 0100011101 0101010111 0100000111 1001100101 01010011 100101 01110101 1011001101 111110101 1001011101 1011011101 11110001001 00110001 100101 111101010 1101011111 10010100101 1001110111 1101111101 1101011011 01100101 110101 010001001 1101010111 1011011101 1101010001 0101010111 1110011111 110100011 110111 01000101 1101111011 1101011111 1100111111 0111011011 1111110101 11110101 111101 11111101 111001101 0101110001 0101000101 1101010001 1111110111 111111 100101 11011100
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 308
  • Average number of words per stanza: 57
  • Amount of lines: 53
  • Average number of symbols per line: 34 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; you, to, and, your are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words you, the are repeated.

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

  • summary of The Fly;
  • 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