Analysis of Robin’s Secret
Katharine Lee Bates 1859 (Falmouth) – 1929 (Wellesley)
’T IS the blithest, bonniest weather for a bird to flirt a feather,
For a bird to trill and warble, all his wee red breast a-swell.
I ’ve a secret. You may listen till your blue eyes dance and glisten,
Little maiden, but I ’ll never, never, never, never tell.
You ’ll find no more wary piper, till the strawberries wax riper
In December than in June—aha! all up and down the dell,
Where my nest is set, for certain, with a pink and snowy curtain,
East or west, but which I ’ll never, never, never, never tell.
You may prick me with a thistle, if you ever hear me whistle
How my brooding mate, whose weariness my carols sweet dispel,
All between the clouds and clover, apple-blossoms drooping over,
Twitters low that I must never, never, never, never tell.
Oh, I swear no closer fellow stains his bill in cherries mellow.
Tra la la! and tirra lirra! I ’m the jauntiest sentinel,
Perched beside my jewel-casket, where lie hidden—don’t you ask it,
For of those three eggs I ’ll never, never, never, never tell.
Chirp! chirp! chirp! alack! for pity! Who hath marred my merry ditty?
Who hath stirred the scented petals, peeping in where robins dwell?
Oh, my mate! May Heaven defend her! Little maidens’ hearts are tender,
And I never, never, never, never, never meant to tell.
Scheme | ABCB ABCB DBAB XDXB XBAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (80%) |
Metre | 110111010111010 101110101111101 11010111011111010 1010111101010101 111111010101011 00101011110101 1111111010101010 1111111101010101 1111101011101110 111011100110101 1010101010101010 11111101010101 1111101011101010 1110111101100 1011101011101111 1111111101010101 111111011111010 111010101001101 11111001010101110 011010101010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 1,285 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 48 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 194 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 78 Views
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