This is an analysis of the poem Troop Train that begins with:

It stops the town we come through. Workers raise
Their oily arms in good salute and grin. ...

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: abbXcdcX aXeXadXf agfgfafX Xadddfdd ahhXfehc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0101111101 1101000111 1111010101 1100111101 1101011111 1101110111 1001100101 11011100111 1001110101 1110010100 0101000101 0101011101 0101010101 1111010101 1101011111 0111010101 1111010011 01001010111 0011010111 1101010101 1101010011 1001110101 1101010101 1001010111 1001011001 1011110101 0110010111 1011111111 1111111101 1111010101 0101011010 1101011111 1101110111 1101111101 1110010101 1101010111 1111011111 1110011111 0101110111 1101010101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 360
  • Average number of words per stanza: 65
  • Amount of lines: 44
  • Average number of symbols per line: 40 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; and, spades, to, death, or, trains, trucks are repeated.

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines black, death are repeated).

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

  • summary of Troop Train;
  • 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