This is an analysis of the poem Going Back To School that begins with:

The boat ploughed on. Now Alcatraz was past
And all the grey waves flamed to red again ... full text

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: abaXbccaXdecedfXfcecceceeggaaaX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 31,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: shakespearean sonnet
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 0111110111 1101110101 1011110111 0101011100 0101111001 1111010101 0111011111 111111 1111 1101010011 1001010001 10110101010 01010001001 1101010101 1001010111 11110101100 01001011001 1111010101 0101000111 1111001101 0111101101 1001010001 1001011101 0111111101 01110100111 1101010101 1001110111 0111111101 11001010101 1011010111 100110101110
  • Amount of stanzas: 1
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 1393
  • Average number of words per stanza: 254
  • Amount of lines: 31
  • Average number of symbols per line: 44 (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; of, and are repeated.

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

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

  • summary of Going Back To School;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Stephen Vincent Benet