This is an analysis of the poem Before An Old Painting Of The Crucifixion that begins with:

I ponder how He died, despairing once.
I've heard the cry subside in vacant skies,...

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: abcabc Xdefde bdfbdf ghXghX dhddhd iadiad
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,6,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1101110101 1101010101 0101110101 1001010100 01010010101 1001101101 1101010001 11111001101 1101100111 0111000100 1000011101 11000011101 0101010101 0100010111 1101110100 1111010101 1100011111 0101010100 1111010101 101010101 0101110100 1101010101 1101011101 11110101000 1100000101 1100010001 0111000101 0101011101 0101000100 11110000101 1100010101 1101010001 1001010001 01000010101 01000101001 1101110101
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 242
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 7
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; in, i, no, of are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Before An Old Painting Of The Crucifixion;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Navarre Scott Momaday