We Must Be Liberal by Lawrence S. Pertillar: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem We Must Be Liberal that begins with:

I remember when I called you a honky.
And you called me a black ugly monkey....

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: AAAX BCDC X AAAX AAAX EXDX EXDX BCDC X EXDX EXEXEXDXDXDX AAAFX FX FX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,1,4,4,4,4,4,1,4,12,5,2,2,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10101111010 1111011010 110111010 111 01011001 100101101 101001001 11100111101 111 10101111010 1111011010 110111010 111 10101111010 1111011010 110111010 111 11100 11110 1111 111001001111 11100 11110 1111 111001001111 01011001 100101101 101001001 11100111101 11110 11100 11110 1111 111001001111 11100 111101 11100 111101 11100 111101 1111 111001001111 1111 111001001111 1111 111001001111 10101111010 1111011010 110111010 111 110100 111 110100 111 110100
  • Amount of stanzas: 14
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 112
  • Average number of words per stanza: 23
  • Amount of lines: 55
  • Average number of symbols per line: 28 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

    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; haw, to, i are repeated.

    The author used the same words i, are, 'haw at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The poet repeated the same word ' at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

  • summary of We Must Be Liberal;
  • 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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