Analysis of Bell Birds
Henry Kendall 1839 (Australia) – 1882 (Sydney)
By channels of coolness the echoes are calling,
And down the dim gorges I hear the creek falling;
It lives in the mountain, where moss and the sedges
Touch with their beauty the banks and the ledges;
Through brakes of the cedar and sycamore bowers
Struggles the light that is love to the flowers.
And, softer than slumber, and sweeter than singing,
The notes of the bell-birds are running and ringing.
The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of day-time,
They sing in September their songs of the May-time.
When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together
They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.
October, the maiden of bright yellow tresses,
Loiters for love in these cool wildernesses;
Loiters knee-deep in the grasses to listen,
Where dripping rocks gleam and the leafy pools glisten.
Then is the time when the water-moons splendid
Break with their gold, and are scattered or blended
Over the creeks, till the woodlands have warning
Of songs of the bell-bird and wings of the morning.
Welcome as waters unkissed by the summers
Are the voices of bell-birds to thirsty far-comers.
When fiery December sets foot in the forest,
And the need of the wayfarer presses the sorest,
Pent in the ridges for ever and ever.
The bell-birds direct him to spring and to river,
With ring and with ripple, like runnels whose torrents
Are toned by the pebbles and leaves in the currents.
Often I sit, looking back to a childhood
Mixt with the sights and the sounds of the wildwood,
Longing for power and the sweetness to fashion
Lyrics with beats like the heart-beats of passion --
Songs interwoven of lights and of laughters
Borrowed from bell-birds in far forest rafters;
So I might keep in the city and alleys
The beauty and strength of the deep mountain valleys,
Charming to slumber the pain of my losses
With glimpses of creeks and a vision of mosses.
Scheme | AABBBBAA CCDDEEFF BBFFGGAA BBXGEEBB HHFFBBBBBB |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110110010110 010110110110 11001011001 11110010010 11101001010 10011111010 010110010110 011011110010 010111010111 110010111011 11110010110 111110011010 11001110010 111110110110 010111101 1010010010010 010010111010 1110111 1110010110 110110010110 11011010110 11110110110 1001101110 111011011010 1011011010 1010111110110 1100010110010 0011011001 10010110010 011011110110 110110110110 111010010010 1011101101 1101001101 101100010110 10111011110 101011011 1111011010 11110010010 010011011010 10110011110 110110010110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,039 |
Words | 361 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 10 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 332 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 72 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:48 min read
- 211 Views
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"Bell Birds" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/17448/bell-birds>.
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