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

Alimony alimony I work till my fingers are bloody and boney
Me oh my oh goodness sake I'm paying for my mistake...

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: abab cCdDaeXcCdDab aefXfX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,13,6,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: shakespearean sonnet
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10101010111110110110 11111010101101 110101010101110111010 110111101111101101 1111011010111 11010111110101 00111000101100 0101011110100 10101010111111011010 111111010101011011 0100 111011010111 11010111110101 100111000101100 0101011110100 1010101011111011010 11001011110101101 1110110110011 11111010010111 1110100110111 110111010110110 111110110111111 101101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 3
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 417
  • Average number of words per stanza: 84
  • Amount of lines: 23
  • Average number of symbols per line: 54 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 11
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; alimony, my, it, i, yeah, mistake are repeated.

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

    The poet repeated the same word mistake at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

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

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

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Shel Silverstein