The Poet And The Bird
Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)
Said a people to a poet---' Go out from among us straightway!
While we are thinking earthly things, thou singest of divine.
There's a little fair brown nightingale, who, sitting in the gateways
Makes fitter music to our ears than any song of thine!'
The poet went out weeping---the nightingale ceased chanting;
'Now, wherefore, O thou nightingale, is all thy sweetness done?'
I cannot sing my earthly things, the heavenly poet wanting,
Whose highest harmony includes the lowest under sun.'
The poet went out weeping,---and died abroad, bereft there---
The bird flew to his grave and died, amid a thousand wails:---
And, when I last came by the place, I swear the music left there
Was only of the poet's song, and not the nightingale's.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 152 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABA CDCD EXEB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic octameter |
Characters | 762 |
Words | 132 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Poet And The Bird" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/10398/the-poet-and-the-bird>.
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