Analysis of Two Songs
Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872 (Dayton) – 1906
A BEE that was searching for sweets one day
Through the gate of a rose garden happened to stray.
In the heart of a rose he hid away,
And forgot in his bliss the light of day,
As sipping his honey he buzzed in song;
Though day was waning, he lingered long,
For the rose was sweet, so sweet.
A robin sits pluming his ruddy breast,
And a madrigal sings to his love in her nest:
'Oh, the skies they are blue, the fields are green,
And the birds in your nest will soon be seen!'
She hangs on his words with a thrill of love,
And chirps to him as he sits above,
For the song is sweet, so sweet.
A maiden was out on a summer's day
With the winds and the waves and the flowers at play;
And she met with a youth of gentle air,
With the light of the sunshine on his hair.
Together they wandered the flowers among;
They loved, and loving they lingered long,
For to love is sweet, so sweet.
BIRD of my lady's bower,
Sing her a song;
Tell her that every hour,
All the day long,
Thoughts of her come to me,
Filling my brain
With the warm ecstasy
Of love's refrain.
Little bird! happy bird!
Being so near,
Where e'en her slightest word
Thou mayest hear,
Seeing her glancing eyes,
Sheen of her hair,
Thou art in paradise, —
Would I were there.
I am so far away,
Thou art so near;
Plead with her, birdling gay,
Plead with my dear.
Rich be thy recompense,
Fine be thy fee,
If through thine eloquence
She hearken me.
Scheme | AAAABBCDDEEFFCAAGGHBCIBIBJKJKLMLNOGPGAMAMQJRJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (29%) |
Metre | 0111101111 101101101011 0011011101 0010110111 1101101101 111101101 1011111 010111101 001001111001 1011110111 0010111111 1111110111 011111101 1011111 0101110101 101001001011 0111011101 101101111 01011001001 110101101 1111111 1111010 1001 10110010 1011 110111 1011 101100 1101 101101 1011 1110101 111 100101 1101 11010 1101 111101 1111 11011 1111 11110 1111 111100 111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,364 |
Words | 280 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 45 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,066 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 277 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:24 min read
- 101 Views
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"Two Songs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/28991/two-songs>.
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