Analysis of The Emperor's Bird's-Nest. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
Once the Emperor Charles of Spain,
With his swarthy, grave commanders,
I forget in what campaign,
Long besieged, in mud and rain,
Some old frontier town of Flanders.
Up and down the dreary camp,
In great boots of Spanish leather,
Striding with a measured tramp,
These Hidalgos, dull and damp,
Cursed the Frenchmen, cursed the weather.
Thus as to and fro they went,
Over upland and through hollow,
Giving their impatience vent,
Perched upon the Emperor's tent,
In her nest, they spied a swallow.
Yes, it was a swallow's nest,
Built of clay and hair of horses,
Mane, or tail, or dragoon's crest,
Found on hedge-rows east and west,
After skirmish of the forces.
Then an old Hidalgo said,
As he twirled his gray mustachio,
'Sure this swallow overhead
Thinks the Emperor's tent a shed,
And the Emperor but a Macho!'
Hearing his imperial name
Coupled with those words of malice,
Half in anger, half in shame,
Forth the great campaigner came
Slowly from his canvas palace.
'Let no hand the bird molest,'
Said he solemnly, 'nor hurt her!'
Adding then, by way of jest,
'Golondrina is my guest,
'T is the wife of some deserter!'
Swift as bowstring speeds a shaft,
Through the camp was spread the rumor,
And the soldiers, as they quaffed
Flemish beer at dinner, laughed
At the Emperor's pleasant humor.
So unharmed and unafraid
Sat the swallow still and brooded,
Till the constant cannonade
Through the walls a breach had made,
And the siege was thus concluded.
Then the army, elsewhere bent,
Struck its tents as if disbanding,
Only not the Emperor's tent,
For he ordered, ere he went,
Very curtly, 'Leave it standing!'
So it stood there all alone,
Loosely flapping, torn and tattered,
Till the brood was fledged and flown,
Singing o'er those walls of stone
Which the cannon-shot had shattered.
Scheme | ABAAB CDCCD EFEEF GXGGX HFHHF IJIIJ GDGGD KDEKD LXELX EMEEM NONNO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10100111 11101010 1010101 1010101 11011110 1010101 01111010 1010101 11101 10101010 1110111 10100110 1010101 10101001 00111010 111011 11101110 111111 1111101 10101010 111011 11111010 1110101 10100101 001001010 10101001 10111110 1010101 1010101 10111010 1110101 11100110 1011111 1111 110111100 111101 10111010 0010111 1011101 101001010 101001 10101010 10101 1010111 00111010 101011 11111010 10101001 1110111 10101110 1111101 10101010 1011101 10101111 10101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,747 |
Words | 315 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 55 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 127 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:35 min read
- 125 Views
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"The Emperor's Bird's-Nest. (Birds Of Passage. Flight The First)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18849/the-emperor%27s-bird%27s-nest.-%28birds-of-passage.-flight-the-first%29>.
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