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

I have fought against the poodle with his gory, deadly paws;
I have faced the fearsome kitten, wild and bony,...

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 cdcd ebeb fgfg Xdgd
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 111010100010101 111010101110 11110100010101 0010000101010 110100100110101 1111010001 101110100111001 11100110101 11101000011110101 101010111110 11010101011001 101000100010 111000100110001 11101011111 111000101111101 11101010111 101011101010101 1011110111 111111100110011 1101011101
  • Amount of stanzas: 5
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 211
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 20
  • Average number of symbols per line: 52 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 10
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, i, have are repeated.

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

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

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

  • summary of The Hunter;
  • 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