This is an analysis of the poem Dickeyville Grotto that begins with:

The priest never used blueprints, but worked all
the many designs out of his head....

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: ab Xcbc Xcde XXff dXfc Xecd Xeed eXXd ffXc Xfad XeeX feXe gbgX XfgX Xhgg agbe bghg ceXX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 0110111111 010011001 10100 010010 101 01010 101 01011 1001 0011 01010100 11010 1001 101010 10101 100100 0001001 11110 101000 1111 11010 01011 110100 111001 1000101 1001 10010 11100 1111101 110101 01001 1111 100010 01010 0101100 1100101 110100 10110 10110 10010 10001 001001 10011 1100 110101 1001010 01010 0111 1010 1010101 1010100 1011 01110 01100 1101 110110 1010100 01110 11110 111010 0101110 110101 110110 1101000 01110 1110 101 0101 01010 10101
  • Amount of stanzas: 18
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 81
  • Average number of words per stanza: 13
  • Amount of lines: 71
  • Average number of symbols per line: 20 (very short strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 3
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and is repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Dickeyville Grotto;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Mark Doty