A Robin
Flame-throated robin on the topmost boughOf the leafless oak, what singest thou?Hark! he telleth how--'Spring is coming now; Spring is coming now.
Now ruddy are the elm-tops against the blue sky,The pale larch donneth her jewelry;Red fir and black fir sigh,And I am lamenting the year gone by.
The bushes where I nested are all cut down,They are felling the tall trees one by one,And my mate is dead and gone,In the winter she died and left me lone.
She lay in the thicket where I fear to go;For when the March-winds after the snowThe leaves away did blow,She was not there, and my heart is woe:
And sad is my song, when I begin to sing,As I sit in the sunshine this merry spring:Like a withered leaf I clingTo the white oak-bough, while the wood doth ring.
Spring is coming now, the sun again is gay;Each day like a last spring's happy day.'--Thus sang he; then from his sprayHe saw me listening and flew away.
I never shall love the snow againSince Maurice died:With corniced drift it blocked the laneAnd sheeted in a desolate plainThe country side.
The trees with silvery rime bedightTheir branches bare.By day no sun appeared; by nightThe hidden moon shed thievish lightIn the misty air.
We fed the birds that flew aroundIn flocks to be fed:No shelter in holly or brake they found.The speckled thrush on the frozen groundLay frozen and dead.
We skated on stream and pond; we cutThe crinching snowTo Doric temple or Arctic hut;We laughed and sang at nightfall, shutBy the fireside glow.
Yet grudged we our keen delights beforeMaurice should come.We said, In-door or out-of-doorWe shall love life for a month or more,When he is home.
They brought him home; 'twas two days lateFor Christmas day:Wrapped in white, in solemn state,A flower in his hand, all still and straightOur Maurice lay.
And two days ere the year outgaveWe laid him low.The best of us truly were not brave,When we laid Maurice down in his graveUnder the snow.
Words in this poem
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- corniced a.
- Having a cornice.
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
- bedight v. t.
- To bedeck; to array or equip; to adorn.
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
- fireside n.
- A place near the fire or hearth; home; domestic life or retirement.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Robin is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas, Project Gutenberg ebook #37804; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bridges, A Robin, in Poetical Works (1873–1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #37804, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bridges-shorter-poems/a-robin.html, id L01782.
Form and metre
A Robin is 59 lines in 13 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAAB, complete in 7 of its 13 stanzas. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 AAAA boughA · thouA · howA · nowA
- 2 A-AA skyA · jewelry · sighA · byA
- 4 AAAA goA · snowA · blowA · woeA
- 5 AAAA singA · springA · clingA · ringA
- 6 AAAA gayA · dayA · sprayA · awayA
- 7 ABAAB againA · diedB · laneA · plainA · sideB
- 8 ABAAB bedightA · bareB · nightA · lightA · airB
- 9 ABAAB aroundA · fedB · foundA · groundA · deadB
- 10 ABAAB cutA · snowB · hutA · shutA · glowB
- 11 ABAAB beforeA · comeB · doorA · moreA · homeB
- 12 ABAAB lateA · dayB · stateA · straightA · layB
- 13 ABAAB outgaveA · lowB · braveA · graveA · snowB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Flame-throated robin on the topmost bough | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of the leafless oak, what singest thou? | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Hark! he telleth how-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| 'Spring is coming now; Spring is coming now. | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Now ruddy are the elm-tops against the blue sky, | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| The pale larch donneth her jewelry; | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Red fir and black fir sigh, | 6 | ······ |
| And I am lamenting the year gone by. | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| The bushes where I nested are all cut down, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| They are felling the tall trees one by one, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And my mate is dead and gone, | 7 | ······· |
| In the winter she died and left me lone. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| She lay in the thicket where I fear to go; | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| For when the March-winds after the snow | 9 | ········· |
| The leaves away did blow, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| She was not there, and my heart is woe: | 9 | ········· |
| And sad is my song, when I begin to sing, | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| As I sit in the sunshine this merry spring: | 11 | ·····/··/˘· |
| Like a withered leaf I cling | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the white oak-bough, while the wood doth ring. | 10 | ·········· |
| Spring is coming now, the sun again is gay; | 11 | ··/˘···˘/·· |
| Each day like a last spring's happy day.'-- | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Thus sang he; then from his spray | 7 | ······· |
| He saw me listening and flew away. | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| I never shall love the snow again | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| Since Maurice died: | 4 | ·˘/· |
| With corniced drift it blocked the lane | 10 | ·/˘˘···˘·· |
| And sheeted in a desolate plain | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| The country side. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The trees with silvery rime bedight | 9 | ···/˘˘·˘/ |
| Their branches bare. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| By day no sun appeared; by night | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| The hidden moon shed thievish light | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| In the misty air. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| We fed the birds that flew around | 8 | ········ |
| In flocks to be fed: | 5 | ····· |
| No shelter in holly or brake they found. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| The speckled thrush on the frozen ground | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| Lay frozen and dead. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| We skated on stream and pond; we cut | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The crinching snow | 4 | ···· |
| To Doric temple or Arctic hut; | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| We laughed and sang at nightfall, shut | 9 | ··˘···/·· |
| By the fireside glow. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Yet grudged we our keen delights before | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Maurice should come. | 4 | ˘/·· |
| We said, In-door or out-of-door | 8 | ········ |
| We shall love life for a month or more, | 9 | ········· |
| When he is home. | 4 | ···· |
| They brought him home; 'twas two days late | 8 | ········ |
| For Christmas day: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Wrapped in white, in solemn state, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| A flower in his hand, all still and straight | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Our Maurice lay. | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| And two days ere the year outgave | 8 | ········ |
| We laid him low. | 4 | ···· |
| The best of us truly were not brave, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| When we laid Maurice down in his grave | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Under the snow. | 4 | ···· |
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.