This is an analysis of the poem Night Thoughts Over A Sick Child that begins with:

Numb, stiff, broken by no sleep,
I keep night watch. Looking for ...

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: ababcdcb dedefXfd gXgehihi gjgegkgk gegjlmlm
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 8,8,8,8,8,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1110111 1111101 1010111 1000111 0111110 1110110 1111011 1111101 1111110 1111101 1101110 1110011 0111111 1010110 1010011 1001100 1110111 1110000 0110011 1111011 101101 1001011 0001111 1111101 1110101 1110100 1010101 1100101 111001111 1111011 10011101 0100111 1111010 1010111 1011011 1001100 0010101 1110111 1100111 0100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 239
  • Average number of words per stanza: 44
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 29 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • 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; my is repeated.

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

  • summary of Night Thoughts Over A Sick Child;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Philip Levine