This is an analysis of the poem Family Romance that begins with:

Sister once of weeds & a dark water that held still
In ditches reflecting the odd, ...

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: abcdaeafegghicaXbjckifceijcjdikjbcXbcXfcebccdjbXXXcefaeXchbc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 60,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: shakespearean sonnet
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 101010110111 01001001 0101111 11101 0100111110 1101100111110 111010 11100101110010 01000100110 110101010 1100101010 11000111010 1110101010 1010001001 00110100 0111010010 1001011 111001011 1001011 010101 1111110111 010110111100 1100111 111010010010 1101010101 1101010 1101101 110110101110100 10111101111 0001010011101 0101001111101 010101 1011 0101011111 01011111011 001010101 110110010001 1100010110111 111000111010 11111111 110111100 111101011 100111 1111101101011 11101 1110101101 0111010100 110101 010010 111010101010 100011 011101010 11011110 11011000101 001110 110111010 1111 1100110011 111011 1111101011
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 2308
  • Average number of words per stanza: 408
  • Amount of lines: 60
  • Average number of symbols per line: 37 (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; at, why, i, my are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Family Romance;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Larry Levis