A Concert of Birds
The mounting lark (day's herald) got on wing,Bidding each bird choose out his bough and sing.The lofty treble sung the little wren;Robin the mean, that best of all loves men;The nightingale the tenor, and the thrushThe counter-tenor sweetly in a bush.And that the music might be full in parts,Birds from the groves flew with right willing hearts;But (as it seem'd) they thought (as do the swains,Which tune their pipes on sack'd Hibernia's plains)There should some droning part be, therefore will'dSome bird to fly into a neighb'ring field,In embassy unto the King of Bees,To aid his partners on the flowers and treesWho, condescending, gladly flew alongTo bear the bass to his well-tuned song.The crow was willing they should be beholdingFor his deep voice, but being hoarse with scolding,He thus lends aid; upon an oak doth climb,And nodding with his head, so keepeth time.
Words in this poem
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
- beholding a.
- Obliged; beholden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Concert of Birds is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, Selected Poetry by George Wither, and Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock), Project Gutenberg ebook #22001; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Nicholas Breton, A Concert of Birds, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/a-concert-of-birds.html, id L08855.
Form and metre
A Concert of Birds is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABB--CCDD--EEFFGGHH wingA · singA · wrenB · menB · thrush · bush · partsC · heartsC · swainsD · plainsD · will'd · field · beesE · treesE · alongF · songF · beholdingG · scoldingG · climbH · timeH
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The mounting lark (day's herald) got on wing, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Bidding each bird choose out his bough and sing. | 10 | /˘········ |
| The lofty treble sung the little wren; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Robin the mean, that best of all loves men; | 10 | /˘········ |
| The nightingale the tenor, and the thrush | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The counter-tenor sweetly in a bush. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And that the music might be full in parts, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Birds from the groves flew with right willing hearts; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But (as it seem'd) they thought (as do the swains, | 10 | ·········· |
| Which tune their pipes on sack'd Hibernia's plains) | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| There should some droning part be, therefore will'd | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some bird to fly into a neighb'ring field, | 10 | ·········· |
| In embassy unto the King of Bees, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| To aid his partners on the flowers and trees | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Who, condescending, gladly flew along | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To bear the bass to his well-tuned song. | 10 | ········˘· |
| The crow was willing they should be beholding | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| For his deep voice, but being hoarse with scolding, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| He thus lends aid; upon an oak doth climb, | 10 | ·········· |
| And nodding with his head, so keepeth time. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.