This is an analysis of the poem The Rock Cries Out to Us Today that begins with:

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,...

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: abcdeefdgagXecchihdjahbibgbklclbedacmicmnmmnnjjeaajjcefXaldblXefajbabbmckccmcfcdlmXhddjgXbkakagXcaldgggXi
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 105,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 0101001 101011010 10101 010111110 01101 11101 1010101011001 0100101110 10101110110100 1111011 111110100 111100111 1011110111 101010010101 01011110 01010 1111 110100 11101 1110 01110111111 111111 0101001 010101001 111111 10101010 10011011 11001000101 1110110 11100101 11100010111 10111101101 01010111 1101110101 001010111 1011101 011010101010111 1111111110 0101111 1001100010 010101011 11010001001 0100110010001 0100100101 0100110101 0101010 0100010010 11111 010001 01011101001 10101101101010 110011101010 1010100111 1001011 1111111 1110101100 11011011001 111101 110001001010 100111011 1010101001 10100001001 11100101011 10101 1110011 1101101010 10101 1011010101 1111100101 11110110101 101101011 100010101 100100101010 110101 111101 011011 1101 001 10101 100001011 100001011 1011000 010011101 1111 11101110 11010 11010010 0110100 0100 0010110 10011011101 11010011 111010 01111011 0101001110 1101010100 11011101011 11010011 1110101111 1001101 001101110 1110 1010 01 010
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 3523
  • Average number of words per stanza: 656
  • Amount of lines: 105
  • 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, their, my, and, beside, you, i, your, new are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words the, you, i, to, no are repeated.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines tree, river, simply are repeated).

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

  • summary of The Rock Cries Out to Us Today;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Maya Angelou