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

Widow. The word consumes itself —-
Body, a sheet of newsprint on the fire...

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: XabXX Xcddc eeacc fbgff bXeXf fhXbh fcbiiXdefgf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,5,5,5,5,5,11,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: couplets
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: heroic couplets
  • Metre: 10010101 10010111010 101001010011 1001010100 10101111101 10011000011 0110010010001 011010100111 10010001011 110101101011 10010101 11001000101 10011101110 01100101011 1001011101 0101011101 01010010101 01110101111 1101011011 1001101011111 10111001 0101010100 1001001101 001010011 1110101101010 1000100110 01010001010 11111010111 1101111100 01001000111 1101110001 01001110101 0011110100 1111010111 110010000101 10011101 011110101011 1110101000101 10011011001 010111111001
  • Amount of stanzas: 8
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 214
  • Average number of words per stanza: 40
  • Amount of lines: 40
  • Average number of symbols per line: 42 (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; her, of, trees, on are repeated.

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

    The author used the same word widow 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 Widow;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Sylvia Plath