With Only The Ability To Waste by Lawrence S. Pertillar: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem With Only The Ability To Waste that begins with:

There was a time,
And this was not too long ago......

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: abcadebfff ecgfd hf fecXgfXg hXX XdeXcbX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 10,5,2,8,3,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1101 10111101 1101110 10101010 0011000010 01011110 11 001010011001 1 010101010 1110010 0101111010 1010100010 1010010 0011001 01 1111 011111110 0010101 001000101001010 00110101101 100101001010 001101 010001000110 00110101 11111011100111 1110110 100010101010100 1111 11 110111 100100100 1101100 0010001 11111111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 188
  • Average number of words per stanza: 33
  • Amount of lines: 35
  • Average number of symbols per line: 31 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6

  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

    The author used the same word today 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 With Only The Ability To Waste;
  • 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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