If You'Re Going To The Ball At All by Lawrence S. Pertillar: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem If You'Re Going To The Ball At All that begins with:

If you're going to the ball at all,
Be prepared to be the topic of the week....

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: ABcDEc aXX ffXdXXABcDEc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,3,12,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 011000111 00100010001 1 0010101 11 1101 0110001101 0100111101 11110110001 01111101 10101111001 111111 010001101101 1101000011011 011000111 00100010001 1 0010101 11 1101110110010
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 168
  • Average number of words per stanza: 34
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many three dots in the poem. Readers should think of the author's idea together with the pensive speaker.

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

    The author used the same word if 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 If You'Re Going To The Ball At All;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Lawrence S. Pertillar

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