Analysis of The Swallow
Charlotte Smith 1749 (London) – 1806 (Tilford, Surrey)
THE gorse is yellow on the heath,
The banks with speedwell flowers are gay,
The oaks are budding; and beneath,
The hawthorn soon will bear the wreath,
The silver wreath of May.
The welcome guest of settled Spring,
The Swallow too is come at last;
Just at sun-set, when thrushes sing,
I saw her dash with rapid wing,
And hail'd her as she pass'd.
Come, summer visitant, attach
To my reed roof your nest of clay,
And let my ear your music catch
Low twittering underneath the thatch
At the gray dawn of day.
As fables tell, an Indian Sage,
The Hindostani woods among,
Could in his desert hermitage,
As if 'twere mark'd in written page,
Translate the wild bird's song.
I wish I did his power possess,
That I might learn, fleet bird, from thee,
What our vain systems only guess,
And know from what wide wilderness
You came across the sea.
I would a little while restrain
Your rapid wing, that I might hear
Whether on clouds that bring the rain,
You sail'd above the western main,
The wind your charioteer.
In Afric, does the sultry gale
Thro' spicy bower, and palmy grove,
Bear the repeated Cuckoo's tale ?
Dwells there a time, the wandering Rail
Or the itinerant Dove ?
Were you in Asia ? O relate,
If there your fabled sister's woes
She seem'd in sorrow to narrate;
Or sings she but to celebrate
Her nuptials with the rose ?
I would enquire how journeying long,
The vast and pathless ocean o'er,
You ply again those pinions strong,
And come to build anew among
The scenes you left before;
But if, as colder breezes blow,
Prophetic of the waning year,
You hide, tho' none know when or how,
In the cliff's excavated brow,
And linger torpid here;
Thus lost to life, what favouring dream
Bids you to happier hours awake;
And tells, that dancing in the beam,
The light gnat hovers o'er the stream,
The May-fly on the lake ?
Or if, by instinct taught to know
Approaching dearth of insect food;
To isles and willowy aits you go,
And crouding on the pliant bough,
Sink in the dimpling flood:
How learn ye, while the cold waves boom
Your deep and ouzy couch above,
The time when flowers of promise bloom,
And call you from your transient tomb,
To light, and life, and love ?
Alas ! how little can be known,
Her sacred veil where Nature draws;
Let baffled Science humbly own,
Her mysteries understood alone,
By Him who gives her laws.
Scheme | ABAABCDCCD EBEEBFGXFHIJIXJ KLKKLMXMMNOPOOP HXHGXQXRRLSTSST QXQRXUNUUNVWVVW |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (41%) |
Metre | 01110101 01111011 01110001 0111101 010111 01011101 01011111 11111101 11011101 010111 110101 11111111 01111101 110101 101111 110111001 01101 10110100 11110101 010111 111111001 11111111 110110101 01111100 110101 11010101 11011111 10111101 11010101 0111 0110101 11010011 10010101 110101001 1001001 01010101 11110101 1101011 1111110 01101 1101011001 01011010 1101111 01110101 011101 11110101 01010101 11111111 0011001 010101 1111111 1111001001 01110001 011101001 011101 11110111 0101111 110100111 0110101 10011 11110111 1101101 011101101 01111101 110101 01110111 01011101 11010101 01000101 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,329 |
Words | 422 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 15, 15, 15, 15 |
Lines Amount | 70 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 360 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 85 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 2:10 min read
- 389 Views
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"The Swallow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5677/the-swallow>.
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