“Shoulders” is an 18-line free verse poem, meaning there are no consistent patterns of rhyme, rhythm, or meter throughout the entirety of the piece. The poem contains six stanzas, or groupings of lines, each of varying lengths. Nye allows herself and the reader the space to focus on the language of the poem rather than the form by writing in free verse. Readers are not preoccupied with identifying the rhythm or rhyme scheme. Instead, they can focus on the vivid imagery and overall narrative that Nye crafts across the six stanzas of “Shoulders.”

Nye uses each individual stanza to introduce a new detail within the familial portrait central to the poem. Stanza 1 gives readers an overview of the scene, introducing “the man,” “the street,” the “rain” (Line 1), and the child asleep on the man’s shoulder (Line 3). However, by Stanza 4, Nye zooms in to focus specifically on the child, his “breathing” (Line 10), and “the hum of [his] dream / deep inside him” (Lines 11-12). With each stanza, readers gain a clearer picture of the scene, making the abrupt shift of Stanza 5 even more startling (see: Poem Analysis) as they become aware of their own active participation within the world of the poem.