Losses by Randall Jarrell: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Losses that begins with:

It was not dying: everybody died.
It was not dying: we had died before ...

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: abcddeXaXcae abcXf aeecafgXcX c gagX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 12,5,10,1,4,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 0111010101 0111011101 000110111 1101011011 101110101 11101100101 10110101001 1011110001 1111011101 1111111100 1111110111 110101111 0111011111 0101010101 10111010111 1100010111 110101010100 0101001011 01111001001 11101110001 11111101110 01011111 0101110101 11111110101 0101111101 111010111110 11111110001 11110111010 01110111010 10111111111 101010111110 1110101111011
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1414
  • Average number of words per stanza: 266
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 38 (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; on, we, died, our, i, dying are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words it, we, when are repeated.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Randall Jarrell

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