Analysis of Allie

Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)



Allie, call the birds in,
The birds from the sky.
Allie calls, Allie sings,
Down they all fly.
First there came
Two white doves
Then a sparrow from his nest,
Then a clucking bantam hen,
Then a robin red-breast.

Allie, call the beasts in,
The beasts, every one.
Allie calls, Allie sings,
In they all run.
First there came
Two black lambs,
Then a grunting Berkshire sow,
Then a dog without a tail,
Then a red and white cow.

Allie, call the fish up,
The fish from the stream.
Allie calls, Allie sings,
Up they all swim.
First there came
Two gold fish,
A minnow and a miller's thumb,
Then a pair of loving trout,
Then the twisted eels come.

Allie, call the children,
Children from the green.
Allie calls, Allie sings,
Soon they run in.
First there came
Tom and Madge,
Kate and I who'll not forget
How we played by the water's edge
Till the April sun set.


Scheme abCbDxexe afCfDxgxg xxCxDxhxh fxCaDxixi
Poetic Form
Metre 101010 01101 101101 1111 111 111 1010111 1010101 101011 101010 011001 101101 0111 111 111 1010101 1010101 101011 101011 01101 101101 1111 111 111 01000101 1011101 101011 101010 10101 101101 1110 111 101 1011101 11110101 101011
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 823
Words 162
Sentences 13
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9, 9
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 162
Words per stanza (avg) 40
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 09, 2023

49 sec read
58

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves was an English poet, scholar/translator/writer of antiquity specializing in Classical Greece and Rome, novelist and soldier in World War One. more…

All Robert Graves poems | Robert Graves Books

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