Analysis of Flute-Priest Song For Rain

Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)



Whistle under the water,
Make the water bubble to the tones of the flute.
I call the bluebirds song into the water:
Wee-kee! Wee-kee-kee!
Dawn is coming,
The morning star shines upon us.
Bluebird singing to the West clouds,
Bring the humming rain.

Water-rattles shake,
Flute whistles,
Star in Heaven shines.
I blow the oriole's song,
The yellow song of the North.
I call rain clouds with my rattles:
Wee-kee-kee, oriole.
Pattering rain.

To the South I blow my whistle,
To the red parrot of the South I call.
Send red lightning,
Under your wings
The forked lightning.
Thunder-rattles whirl
To the sky waters.
Fill the springs.
The water is moving.
Wait -

Whistle to the East
With a magpie voice.
Wee-kee! Wee-kee-kee!
Call the storm-clouds
That they come rushing.
Call the loud rain.

Why does it not come?
Who is bad?
Whose heart is evil?
Who has done wickedness?
I weep,
I rend my garments,
I grieve for the sin which is in this place.
My flute sobs with the voice of all birds in the water.
Even to the six directions I weep and despair.
Come, O winds, from the sides of the sky,
Open your bird-beaks that rain may fall down.
Drench our fields, our houses,
Fill the land
With tumult of rain.


Scheme axaBcdef xgxxxgxf hxcicxxicx xxBecf xxhdxxxaxxxxxf
Poetic Form
Metre 1010010 101010101101 1101101010 11111 1110 01011011 1101011 10101 10101 110 10101 11011 0101101 11111110 11110 11 10111110 1011010111 1110 1011 0110 10101 10110 101 010110 1 10101 1011 11111 1011 11110 1011 11111 111 11110 111100 11 11110 1110111011 1111011110010 1010101011001 111101101 1011111111 11011010 101 11011
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,156
Words 218
Sentences 29
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 10, 6, 14
Lines Amount 46
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 183
Words per stanza (avg) 43
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

1:05 min read
122

Amy Lowell

Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. more…

All Amy Lowell poems | Amy Lowell Books

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