Analysis of The Water Ouzel

Harriet Monroe 1860 (Chicago) – 1936 (Arequipa)



Little brown surf-bather of the mountains!
Spirit of foam, lover of cataracts, shaking your wings in falling waters!
Have you no fear of the roar and rush when Nevada plunges --
Nevada, the shapely dancer, feeling her way with slim white fingers?
How dare you dash at Yosemite the mighty --
Tall, white limbed Yosemite, leaping down, down over the cliff?
Is it not enough to lean on the blue air of mountains?
Is it not enough to rest with your mate at timberline, in bushes that hug
   the rocks?
Must you fly through mad waters where the heaped-up granite breaks them?
Must you batter your wings in the torrent?
Must you plunge for life and death through the foam?


Scheme ABCBDEAFGHIJ
Poetic Form
Metre 1011101010 101110110101101010 111110101101010 01001010100111110 111110100010 111010010111001 11101111011110 111011111111001011 01 111111010111011 1110110010 1111101101
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 674
Words 122
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 43
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 521
Words per stanza (avg) 120
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
64

Harriet Monroe

Harriet Monroe was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet and patron of the arts. more…

All Harriet Monroe poems | Harriet Monroe Books

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