Birds in May
William Browne 1591 (Tavistock, Devon) – 1645
As (woo'd by May's delights) I have been borne
To take the kind air of a wistful morn
Near Tavy's voiceful stream (to whom I owe
More strains than from my pipe can ever flow),
Here have I heard a sweet bird never lin
To chide the river for his clam'rous din;
There seem'd another in his song to tell,
That what the fair stream did he liked well;
And going further heard another too,
All varying still in what the others do;
A little thence, a fourth with little pain
Conn'd all their lessons, and them sung again;
So numberless the songsters are that sing
In the sweet groves of the too-careless spring,
That I no sooner could the hearing lose
Of one of them, but straight another rose,
And perching deftly on a quaking spray,
Nigh tir'd herself to make her hearer stay.
. . . . .
Shrill as a thrush upon a morn of May.
From Britannia's Pastorals.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 11 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEXXFFGXHH H G |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 863 |
Words | 159 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 20, 1 |
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"Birds in May" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/56996/birds-in-may>.
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