Analysis of The Mocking-Bird
Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)
Superb and sole, upon a plumed spray
That o'er the general leafage boldly grew,
He summ'd the woods in song; or typic drew
The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay
Of languid doves when long their lovers stray,
And all birds' passion-plays that sprinkle dew
At morn in brake or bosky avenue.
Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.
Then down he shot, bounced airily along
The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song
Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.
Sweet Science, this large riddle read me plain:
How may the death of that dull insect be
The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?
Scheme | ABBAABBACCDEFF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010101011 11001001101 110101111 0111010101 1101111101 0111011101 11011110 1011111111 11111101 011001011 111011101 1101110111 110111111 011111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 614 |
Words | 113 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 486 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 111 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 34 sec read
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"The Mocking-Bird" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/34796/the-mocking-bird>.
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