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

The hulk of a man with a beer in his hand looked like a drunk old fool,
And I knew that if I hit him right, I could knock him off that stool....

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

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  • Rhyme scheme: aaabX cccX aaaX dXeX fffb gggb hhhb eeeb bbbb iiib eehb hehb eedb eeeb dddb jjjb eeXb gggb iiiX ccXb
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 01001001001110111 1111011111111111 11010111110101 1101101111111010 11010 111110111101111111 1101111011110111 11101101001011101 111111111111010 111010111011110101 11011001011111 111111010110111 01011101010100010 1111111101111111 110111010101010 111110101010101 111011011111010 11100111011111101 01001101010101 11001011111010111 00110111110010 111011011010101 11010001110101 1110111001101001 1110111111010 110111110110011101 00101111111010101 10010101101110101 010111110010 1110001111110001 01010101110001 111011101110011 111111100010 1101110111101010 11011100110001010 11111010110111010 11111111010 11011101110101 11111101011001 111111111101111 1110100111010 11010101111111 0101010110101 1010010101011101 11010010111010 101101111010111 11000100010111 101101011111111 0010110101010 11010101011101010 1100101010111010 1110110101011010 110111111010 10111111111001 1011001001011111 1110110101011101 0100100100010 001110101111111 11101100101011111 111001110111 11101101101010 11111111010111 011010110110101 101110111010111 111110101010 111101100101101111 101010101111101 110101011100101 1110010110110010 1110100011110111 11110101011111 11101101111100 11010111010 1101101011010110101 11010111110111 1011011011101101 111111111010 111001111111111 101111101010001 111111111111111011 1100111110
  • Amount of stanzas: 20
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 247
  • Average number of words per stanza: 49
  • Amount of lines: 81
  • Average number of symbols per line: 60 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 12
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; i, and, he, my, me, this, of, winnin', that, in, to, so, still are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words i, he, but, and, my, winnin' are repeated.

    The author used the same words he, my at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    The poet repeated the same words ', winner 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 The Winner;
  • 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