Analysis of The Bird's Bargain
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
'O spare my cherries in the net,'
Brother Benignus prayed; 'and I
Summer and winter, shine and wet,
Will pile the blackbirds' table high.'
'O spare my youngling peas,' he prayed,
'That for the Abbot's table be;
And every blackbird shall be fed;
Yea, they shall have their fill,' said he.
His prayer, his vow, the blackbirds heard,
And spared his shining garden-plot.
In abstinence went every bird,
All the old thieving ways forgot.
He kept his promise to his friends,
And daily set them finest fare
Of corn and meal and manchet-ends,
With marrowy bones for winter bare.
Brother Benignus died in grace:
The brethren keep his trust, and feed
The blackbirds in this pleasant place,
Purged, as dear heaven, from strife and greed.
The blackbirds sing the whole year long,
Here where they keep their promise given,
And do the mellowing fruit no wrong.
Brother Benignus smiles in heaven.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC DEDE FGFG HIHI JKJK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 11110001 101101 10010101 11010101 1111111 1101101 010010111 11111111 11110101 01110101 010011001 10110101 11110111 01011101 1101011 1111101 101101 01011101 01001101 111101101 01010111 111111010 010100111 1011010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 883 |
Words | 157 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 117 Views
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