Analysis of When I was a Bird
Katherine Mansfield 1888 (Wellington) – 1923 (Fontainebleau, Île-de-France)
I climbed up the karaka tree
Into a nest all made of leaves
But soft as feathers.
I made up a song that went on singing all by itself
And hadn't any words, but got sad at the end.
There were daisies in the grass under the tree.
I said just to try them:
"I'll bite off your heads and give them to my little
children to eat."
But they didn't believe I was a bird;
They stayed quite open.
The sky was like a blue nest with white feathers
And the sun was the mother bird keeping it warm.
That's what my song said: though it hadn't any words.
Little Brother came up the patch, wheeling his barrow.
I made my dress into wings and kept very quiet.
Then when he was quite near I said: "Sweet, sweet!"
For a moment he looked quite startled;
Then he said: "Pooh, you're not a bird; I can see
your legs."
But the daisies didn't really matter,
And Little Brother didn't really matter;
I felt just like a bird.
Scheme | ABCDEAFGHIJCKLMNHOAPQQI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011 01011111 11110 11101111101101 010101111101 10100011001 111111 111110111110 1011 1110011101 11110 01110111110 001101011011 111111110101 1010110110110 1111011011010 1111111111 101011110 11111101111 11 1010101010 01010101010 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 905 |
Words | 182 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 23 |
Lines Amount | 23 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 682 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 179 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 97 Views
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"When I was a Bird" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25162/when-i-was-a-bird>.
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