Analysis of On the sight of swans in Kensington Gardens

Charles Lamb 1775 (Inner Temple, London) – 1834 (Edmonton, London)



Queen-bird, that sittest on thy shining nest
And thy young cygnets without sorrow hatchest,
And thou, thou other royal bird, that watchest
Lest the white mother wandering feet molest:
Shrined are your offspring in a crystal cradle,
Brighter than Helen's ere she yet had burst
Her shelly prison. They shall be born at first
Strong, active, graceful, perfect, swan-like, able
To tread the land or waters with security,
Unlike poor human births, conceived in sin,
In grief brought forth, both outwardly and in
Confessing weakness, error, and impurity.
Did heavenly creatures own succession's line,
The births of heaven like to yours would shine.


Scheme AAAABCCBDEEDFF
Poetic Form
Metre 111111101 011101101 0111010111 10110100101 1111001010 1011011111 01010111111 11010011110 110111010100 0111010101 0111110000 010101000100 110010111 0111011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 650
Words 105
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 515
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
104

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847). Friends with such literary luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, and William Hazlitt, Lamb was at the centre of a major literary circle in England. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as "the most lovable figure in English literature". more…

All Charles Lamb poems | Charles Lamb Books

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