Analysis of A Bird and flower upon the tree
Augusta Davies Webster 1837 (Poole, Dorset) – 1894
A bird and flower upon the tree,
Sweet peony and oriole,
Each of them a perfect soul,
Song and sweetness manifest
The bird and flower we love the best
Side by side on the tall tree.
'Flower who art sunlight and fire, flower who art perfume and joy,
Sweetest of sweet,
Ah for the gift withheld!
Ah for the given gift's alloy!
Why must thy spirit exhale only in beauty and breath?
Ah for the voice thou hast not! I by thy side on the tree,
Telling the world of love, pain, and all raptures that be,
Raptures of laughter and life, raptures of tears and death,
Singing my heart to heaven, singing to earth at my feet;
Silence in thee.'
'Bird who art dew-drops and flame, bird who art rapture and song,
Sweetest of sweet,
Lo there's a voice part mine, songs that to me too belong,
Songs that grew of my growth, voice that has breathed my breath.
Bird that while I sit mute singest beside on the tree,
Hast thou ever a song taking no perfume of me?
Give forth my sweetness in song; bird, thou art singing for both,
Singing our hearts to heaven, singing to earth at our feet;
My voice in thee.'
On the tree-top side by side,
Sweet oriole and peony;
Music rings through earth and sky,
Sweet and sweet in sweetness lost
The flower and bird we love the most,
On the tree-top side by side.
Scheme | abbcca dExdfaafea gEgfaaxea HaxxxH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010100101 1100010 1110011 101010 010101101 1111011 1011101010110101 1011 110101 1101011 11110011001001 11011111111101 100111101111 11100111101 10111101011111 1001 11111011111001 1011 1101111111101 111111111111 111111101101 1110011010111 11110011111011 1010111010111101 1101 1011111 1100100 1011101 1010101 010011101 1011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,261 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 10, 9, 6 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 247 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:14 min read
- 143 Views
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"A Bird and flower upon the tree" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/4059/a-bird--and-flower-upon-the-tree>.
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