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

A serious moment for the water is
when it boils...

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: aabcdefabbgfhibja hahfahbhfccjkcadedb lchbkdkckbcelkihiimbXlddf iaak aacXbad mnXhkkkffgnff
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 17,19,25,4,7,13,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01001010100 101 111100010 1010010 0101010 010011110 010001011 011101 00100010 10101001 1001010010 11111 1010001 0011000 1010010 1000101 101 0100101010 0101 0101011 01001010 10 11010101 1101111 010 1110101101 0111 01010010000 10111 100101010 01110 101010000 100011010 0001 1110101010 10001 100011011 101000 111011101 0010100010 10101011 10010 011010011 1110101 10011011 11100 1101000100 101010010 110110001 1100 1010110 1 1001100 1011010 1 1011110 01 100110 1000100010 1001100010 1 01001010 1010101 10101000 01001001 0100101010 101 11010100 10101 0101101 101011 0101010 010010101 0101001 1001111111 10011 11111111 11 01010010100 0110001010 0010100 110111 101000 01
  • Amount of stanzas: 7
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 309
  • Average number of words per stanza: 58
  • Amount of lines: 84
  • Average number of symbols per line: 25 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; maybe, it, to, serious, for are repeated.

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

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

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines another is repeated).

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

  • summary of The Boiling Water;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Kenneth Koch