Respect Your Mama by Lawrence S. Pertillar: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Respect Your Mama that begins with:

Respect your mama.
No matter what your mama may do....

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: AbAbABAAA bAbAbAXAa AXAXAcAcXaaABAAA
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 9,9,16,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01110 110111011 01110 11011111 01110 1010111 101110 001110 1110 1 01110 1111101 01110 1010111 01110 101101 111110 01101110 1110 001111 111110 011111 1110 011111 111110 001110101 110 11110 01110 1010111 101110 001110 1110
  • Amount of stanzas: 4
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 194
  • Average number of words per stanza: 38
  • Amount of lines: 33
  • Average number of symbols per line: 23 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 5

  • 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; your, mama, you are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Respect Your Mama;
  • 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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