High from the earth I heard a bird
High from the earth I heard a bird;He trod upon the treesAs he esteemed them trifles,And then he spied a breeze,And situated softlyUpon a pile of windWhich in a perturbationNature had left behind.A joyous-going fellowI gathered from his talk,Which both of benedictionAnd badinage partook,Without apparent burden,I learned, in leafy woodHe was the faithful fatherOf a dependent brood;And this untoward transportHis remedy for care, --A contrast to our respites.How different we are!
Words in this poem
- badinage n.
- Playful raillery; banter. [F., fr. badiner to joke, OF. to trifle, be silly, fr. badin silly.]
- untoward a.
- Froward; perverse. [Pref. un- not + toward.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
High from the earth I heard a bird is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete, Project Gutenberg ebook #12242; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Emily Dickinson, High from the earth I heard a bird, in Poems (1890–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12242, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dickinson-poems/high-from-the-earth-i-heard-a-bird.html, id L19036.
Form and metre
High from the earth I heard a bird is 20 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -A-A-B-B------------ bird · treesA · trifles · breezeA · softly · windB · perturbation · behindB · fellow · talk · benediction · partook · burden · wood · father · brood · transport · care · respites · are
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| High from the earth I heard a bird; | 8 | ········ |
| He trod upon the trees | 6 | ······ |
| As he esteemed them trifles, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| And then he spied a breeze, | 6 | ······ |
| And situated softly | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Upon a pile of wind | 6 | ······ |
| Which in a perturbation | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Nature had left behind. | 6 | /˘···· |
| A joyous-going fellow | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| I gathered from his talk, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Which both of benediction | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| And badinage partook, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Without apparent burden, | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| I learned, in leafy wood | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He was the faithful father | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of a dependent brood; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And this untoward transport | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| His remedy for care, -- | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| A contrast to our respites. | 7 | ·/˘·//˘ |
| How different we are! | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
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.