Cathedral of Salt by Nick Flynn: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Cathedral of Salt that begins with:

Beneath all this I'm carving a cathedral
of salt. I keep...

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: aX bX cd e fg gd fh Xd dc ie X bb dX ba hXi
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 2,2,2,1,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2,2,3,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: enclosed rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01100100010 0111 01010111010 0100100 111101 1111 1101 101 111010111 010011101 101101 10101011 10001 1011010100 111001 11100110101 1111 011111110 111010010101 1101 101010110101 01100100010 101111 110101110010 1110 11001000101111 1010101 1010
  • Amount of stanzas: 16
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 55
  • Average number of words per stanza: 11
  • Amount of lines: 28
  • 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; we, some are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word the is repeated.

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

  • summary of Cathedral of Salt;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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