Analysis of The Flood
It creeps up from the well in the floor
and spills over onto the cold cement.
I know its cold because I’m in my bare feet.
The water is cold too as it snakes out onto the basement floor,
spreading like a brush fire.
Grabbing a bucket, I shovel out the water into a cooler.
Mom begins pulling boxes and bins off the floor.
She tries to save what she can.
I continue bucketing water
until the cooler almost becomes too heavy to carry.
We take it outside and dump it into the yard.
In the moonlight, I see that the entire neighborhood
has become a lake with houses and cars and trees floating on it.
The rain shows no sign of slowing.
It wants to drown us all, Noah save us!
When we’re back in the house,
by the light of a lone lantern,
we see the water has returned to the surface for another round.
The bucket is my glove and I’m Rocky Balboa—I will not quit.
After two more cooler-loads of water
are dumped out and more is coming in,
I can tell mom is defeated.
It has already reached the carpet in the other room;
it would be ruined, along with anything else touching the floor.
The next morning—a beautiful, rain-free summer day—
we vacuum water from the carpet
and then take it out of the house
before it starts to stink of mildew.
A flood can ruin everything no matter how hard you fight it.
Scheme | AXXABBAXBXXXCXX DXXCBXXXAXXDXC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101001 0110100101 11110110111 0101111111100101 1010110 10010110101001010 101101001101 1111111 1010110 01010101110110 111110110101 001111001010 1010111001011011 01111110 1111111011 101001 10110110 11010101101010101 01011101100101111 1011101110 111011100 11111010 11010101000101 111100111011001 0110010011101 110101010 01111101 01111111 011101011011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,279 |
Words | 250 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 14 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 506 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 02, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 1 View
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Flood" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/86718/the-flood>.
Discuss this eye_pollution poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In