Analysis of Nest Eggs
Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)
Birds all the summer day
Flutter and quarrel
Here in the arbour-like
Tent of the laurel.
Here in the fork
The brown nest is seated;
For little blue eggs
The mother keeps heated.
While we stand watching her
Staring like gabies,
Safe in each egg are the
Bird's little babies.
Soon the frail eggs they shall
Chip, and upspringing
Make all the April woods
Merry with singing.
Younger than we are,
O children, and frailer,
Soon in the blue air they'll be,
Singer and sailor.
We, so much older,
Taller and stronger,
We shall look down on the
Birdies no longer.
They shall go flying
With musical speeches
High overhead in the
Tops of the beeches.
In spite of our wisdom
And sensible talking,
We on our feet must go
Plodding and walking.
Scheme | XABA XCDC EDFX XBXG XEXE EEFE GXFD XGXG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 110101 10010 100101 11010 1001 011110 11011 010110 111100 1011 101110 11010 101111 101 110101 10110 10111 11001 1001111 10010 11110 10010 111110 10110 11110 110010 110100 1101 0111010 010010 1110111 10010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 737 |
Words | 135 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 18 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 72 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 17 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 233 Views
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"Nest Eggs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31650/nest-eggs>.
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