This is an analysis of the poem The Mississippi River Empties Into The Gulf that begins with:

and the gulf enters the sea and so forth,
none of them emptying anything,...

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: XXXXXXaXXaXXXX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 14,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: no rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: sonnet with iambic tetrameter or irregular meter
  • Metre: 1011001111 100100101 100100101 01011111 1001010011 00011010 00110101 0010100101 0111010010 00110101 10111010101 001010001 1000100 101101
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 468
  • Average number of words per stanza: 82
  • Amount of lines: 14
  • Average number of symbols per line: 33 (medium-length strings)
  • 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; of is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The Mississippi River Empties Into The Gulf;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Lucille Clifton