Analysis of The Dew and the Bird

Alexander Posey 1873 (Eufaula, Creek Nation, Indian Territory) – 1908 (Oklahoma)



There is more glory in a drop of dew,
    That shineth only for an hour,
Than there is in the pomp of earth’s great Kings
    Within the noonday of their power.

There is more sweetness in a single strain
    That falleth from a wild bird’s throat,
At random in the lonely forest’s depths,
    Than there’s in all the songs that bards e’er wrote.

Yet men, for aye, rememb’ring Caesar’s name,
    Forget the glory in the dew,
And, praising Homer’s epic, let the lark’s
    Song fall unheeded from the blue.


Scheme ABXB XCXC XAXA
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1111000111 11101110 1110011111 01011110 1111000101 1110111 1100010101 1101011111 11111101 01010001 0101010101 11010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 511
Words 89
Sentences 3
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 123
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted by halel on July 13, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

26 sec read
21

Alexander Posey

Alexander Lawrence Posey was an American poet, humorist, journalist, and politician in the Creek Nation. He founded the Eufaula Indian Journal in 1901, the first Native American daily newspaper. more…

All Alexander Posey poems | Alexander Posey Books

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    The repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words or within words is known as _______.
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