Analysis of A Fable
Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1855 (Janesville) – 1919
Some cawing Crows, a hooting Owl,
A Hawk, a Canary, an old Marsh-Fowl,
One day all meet together
To hold a caucus and settle the fate
Of a certain bird (without a mate),
A bird of another feather.
'My friends,' said the Owl, with a look most wise,
'The Eagle is soaring too near the skies,
In a way that is quite improper;
Yet the world is praising her, so I'm told,
And I think her actions have grown so bold
That some of us ought to stop her.'
'I have heard it said,' quoth Hawk, with a sigh,
'That young lambs died at the glance of her eye,
And I wholly scorn and despise her.
This, and more, I am told they say,
And I think that the only proper way
Is never to recognize her.'
'I am quite convinced,' said Crow, with a caw,
'That the Eagle minds no moral law,
She's a most unruly creature.'
'She's an ugly thing,' piped Canary Bird;
'Some call her handsome—it's so absurd—
She hasn't a decent feature.'
Then the old Marsh-Hen went hopping about,
She said she was sure—she hadn't a doubt—
Of the truth of each bird's story:
And she thought it a duty to stop her flight,
To pull her down from her lofty height,
And take the gilt from her glory.
But, lo! from a peak on the mountain grand
That looks out over the smiling land
And over the mighty ocean,
The Eagle is spreading her splendid wings—
She rises, rises, and upward swings,
With a slow, majestic motion.
Up in the blue of God's own skies,
With a cry of rapture, away she flies,
Close to the Great Eternal:
She sweeps the world with her piercing sight;
Her soul is filled with the infinite
And the joy of things supernal.
Thus rise forever the chosen of God,
The genius-crowned or the power-shod,
Over the dust-world sailing;
And back, like splinters blown by the winds,
Must fall the missiles of silly minds,
Useless and unavailing.
Scheme | AABCCBDDBEEBFFBGGBHHBIIBJJKLLKMMNOONDDPLQARRSTUS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011 0100101111 1111010 1101001001 101010101 01101010 1110110111 0101101101 001111010 1011100111 0110101111 11111110 1111111101 1111101101 011010010 10111111 0111010101 1101100 1110111101 101011101 10101010 1110110101 110101101 11001010 1011111001 1111111001 10111110 01110101101 110110101 01011010 1110110101 111100101 01001010 0101100101 110100101 10101010 10011111 1011100111 1101010 110110101 011110100 001111 1101001011 010110101 1001110 01111101 110101101 100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,763 |
Words | 348 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 48 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,361 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 338 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 80 Views
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"A Fable" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/10475/a-fable>.
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