Formal Description of "The Coral Insect"

The Coral Insect contains 5 stanzas with 8 lines in each.The meter of this poem is impure. “The Coral Insect” uses tetrameter consistently throughout the poem. Though at first glance, the various use of anapests and iambs may seem random, it is still following a pattern. Though the order in which the anapests and iambs differ widely, it is the use of both of them in each line that becomes a pattern. In stanza 1, lines 3 and 5 both use the same order of an iamb followed by two anapests and finishing on an iamb. This same pattern of iambs and anapests is reflected later in the same stanza with line 7. Both of these lines are followed by lines following that contain an anapest, an iamb, an anapest and finishing on an iamb. Together, these lines with various patterns flow together to create a complete thought. As the poem moves forward, anapests and iambs are both repeated and presented in new orders. The Coral Insect consists of couplets, following an aa bb cc dd pattern consistently throughout the poem. These rhymes are all true, all following exact vowel sounds, such as “spring” and “king”, “dark” and “bark.” It also largely consists of masculine rhymes, all rhyming on a single stressed syllable. 

The Coral Insect does also include some lame feet, only containing nine syllables in a line with five stresses. This can be seen in stanza 2, line 3 which only has nine syllables. It also consists of a few caesuras with commas interrupting four lines in the poem. There are several instances of end-stopped lines, like in stanza 3, lines 1-2, “But why do ye plant ‘neath the billows dark / The wrecking reef for the gallant bark?” This line also doubles as an example of enjambment in the poem, with the first line only serving as half of the full question completed in line 2. 

There’s alliteration throughout the poem, using aspirate semivowels like ‘f’, “fathomless fountains”. T There was a frequent appearance of the letter ‘t’ throughout the poem and one instance where it served as a mute in stanza 2, line 8, “exult.” This was an instance Other mute consonants included ‘k’ in stanza 3, lines 1-4 as well as ‘d’ in stanza 2, lines 5-6. In fact, the final words in most of stanza three end on a mute consonant. Aspirate semivowels are present throughout like in the final 2 lines of stanza 3 with the “th” in breath and death, the extended sound leading into the beginning of the next stanza.