This is an analysis of the poem The House that begins with:

This poem has a door, a locked door,
and curtains drawn against the day, ...

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: abcadabeefXcegXhccdgbfgXecdXcchedcbX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 36,
  • Closest metre: iambic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rima
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 010101011 11010101 11101111 01110101 1110101010 1101001 010111011 010111111 0111111001 00010110110 1111011001 01110111 111110110 011011101 10111111 1101010101 110110101 100011111 1011110 0100010101 11010010011 1101001010100 1101001110 10111001 11011101 10110111 0101101110 010110011 1001010111 00101101101 00101101010 0111010110 1011010100 111010011110 0100111101 01110100011
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1445
  • Average number of words per stanza: 283
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 8
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; his, in, or are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of The House;
  • 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