This is an analysis of the poem When You Go Away that begins with:

When you go away the wind clicks around to the north
The painters work all day but at sundown the paint falls...

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: abbXb bXaXXcc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 5,7,
  • Closest metre: trochaic tetrameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: limerick
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1110101101001 0101111111011 10011 01110100110 1111000 1111001010 01111 0001101001111 101011110 111010 111110100111100 101100111
  • Amount of stanzas: 2
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 241
  • Average number of words per stanza: 51
  • Amount of lines: 12
  • Average number of symbols per line: 39 (medium-length strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 9
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

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

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

  • summary of When You Go Away;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by William Stanley Merwin