This is an analysis of the poem Impossible To Tell that begins with:

to Robert Hass and in memory of Elliot Gilbert
...

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: a bcd XeX fbg hbi Xgd djf dia hkd hgd lhd cam anc iiX dom pad bap mql bap hil ich liX cho cgd pji rlc hgo cgi diX lhd iqd lhj jkr Xeh dkX hbX jch idd Xal cea aea dgd hcr lbh gil pan jip aig ccp Xci iiX XXi phh dje gnbXj
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,5,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 010110100010010 11001011010 1101110101 010101110010 010100110110 1011001111 0100010101 11011001010 10011101011 100010100010 10011101110 01010101010 10110111010 1100100101010 1001001001101 11011110010 010111110010 0101000101 001100101010 0100101010110 010011100111 101100010010 0111010010010 11011100101 11110100010 0111011111010 010010001011 1101100101010 11011011110 01010011101 101001010100 01000101010 0011111111 010101101010 11011101010 01001011111 11011101011 11011111010 11101100101 11011101110 110110101010 1111110111 11111111010 11010111010 01111100111 111100101010 110100011010 1111010101 01111011010 01000101110 110011001001 011101001110 10001101011 10111110101 101111001010 000101110010 1101111111 100101001010 1010010110110 110100101111 010111110010 110101010110 010110110011 010101011100 1101101001010 001011101011 1101010111 1001000101010 110101100111 101111001010 111011011010 1101010001 011101110110 11010100110 10010010111 010101001010 101011111010 01010101101 0101100101 010100100010 1101111101 110011101010 101100111110 101110101 01010111010 010100101110 01010010001 010110101010 11010001011 10010101101 11110101010 110111111110 01011101111 11111101110 101100111010 1001011101 01011101010 11010101010 11110111101 11010101010 110011111110 11110100101 100111000111 01110101110 11011110101 01001101110 011101000100 01010101001 010101100010 11010101010 11001011110110 111101001010 001110111010 110010100101 11010100110 11110100110 010101001001 11010101010 0101010010010 0101100101 1101011011010 1011101110 10101000101 010010101110 110101001110 011010010011 0100111101010 0011001010110 01001010111 10111111010 1101001101110 101010111 110010111010 101111010110 10001111111 110101101010 010101101110 0101010101 1000100101010 11010111110 010000101001 01010110110 110101011010 100101001001 01110101010 110111010110 1101011101 100011110110 10011101010 01011101101 1010001011110 010011111010 1101001001110 010011000110 01111100010 01011101001 0101011001010 11011111110 01011100101 100111001010 010110010010 1001001011 100010101010 010001010001
  • Amount of stanzas: 56
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 135
  • Average number of words per stanza: 24
  • Amount of lines: 165
  • Average number of symbols per line: 45 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • 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; and, in, her, she, he, to, i, one, then, it, ' are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words she, in, the, as are repeated.

    The author used the same word the at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines ' is repeated).

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

  • summary of Impossible To Tell;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Robert Pinsky