Birds in May
As (woo'd by May's delights) I have been borneTo take the kind air of a wistful mornNear Tavy's voiceful stream (to whom I oweMore strains than from my pipe can ever flow),Here have I heard a sweet bird never linTo chide the river for his clam'rous din;There seem'd another in his song to tell,That what the fair stream did he liked well;And going further heard another too,All varying still in what the others do;A little thence, a fourth with little painConn'd all their lessons, and them sung again;So numberless the songsters are that singIn the sweet groves of the too-careless spring,That I no sooner could the hearing loseOf one of them, but straight another rose,And perching deftly on a quaking spray,Nigh tir'd herself to make her hearer stay.Shrill as a thrush upon a morn of May.
Words in this poem
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- voiceful a.
- Having a voice or vocal quality; having a loud voice or many voices; vocal; sounding.
- numberless a.
- Innumerable; countless.
- deftly adv.
- Aptly; fitly; dexterously; neatly. [Cf. Defly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Birds in May 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, Birds in May, in Pastoral Poems and Selected Poetry (1597–1604), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22001, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/breton-poems/birds-in-may.html, id L08853.
Form and metre
Birds in May is 19 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 84% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 37% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGG--HHH borneA · mornA · oweB · flowB · linC · dinC · tellD · wellD · tooE · doE · painF · againF · singG · springG · lose · rose · sprayH · stayH · mayH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As (woo'd by May's delights) I have been borne | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| To take the kind air of a wistful morn | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Near Tavy's voiceful stream (to whom I owe | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| More strains than from my pipe can ever flow), | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Here have I heard a sweet bird never lin | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To chide the river for his clam'rous din; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| There seem'd another in his song to tell, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| That what the fair stream did he liked well; | 10 | ········˘· |
| And going further heard another too, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| All varying still in what the others do; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| A little thence, a fourth with little pain | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Conn'd all their lessons, and them sung again; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| So numberless the songsters are that sing | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| In the sweet groves of the too-careless spring, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That I no sooner could the hearing lose | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Of one of them, but straight another rose, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And perching deftly on a quaking spray, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nigh tir'd herself to make her hearer stay. | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Shrill as a thrush upon a morn of May. | 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.