The Bird at Sea
Bird of the greenwood!Oh, why art thou here?Leaves dance not o’er thee,Flowers bloom not near.All the sweet watersFar hence are at play--Bird of the greenwood!Away, away!
Where the mast quiversThy place will not be,As midst the wavingOf wild-rose and tree.How shouldst thou battleWith storm and with spray?Bird of the greenwood!Away, away!
Or art thou seekingSome brighter land,Where by the south windVine leaves are fann’d?’Midst the wild billowsWhy then delay?Bird of the greenwood!Away, away!
“Chide not my lingeringWhere storms are dark;A hand that hath nursed meIs in the bark--A heart that hath cherish’dThrough winter’s long day:So I turn from the greenwood,Away, away!”
Words in this poem
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bird at Sea is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Felicia Hemans, Project Gutenberg ebook #66785; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Felicia Hemans, The Bird at Sea, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-bird-at-sea.html, id L19672.
Form and metre
The Bird at Sea is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AB-B-CAC greenwoodA · hereB · thee · nearB · waters · playC · greenwoodA · awayC
- 2 -A-A-B-B quivers · beA · waving · treeA · battle · sprayB · greenwood · awayB
- 3 -A-A-B-B seeking · landA · wind · fann'dA · billows · delayB · greenwood · awayB
- 4 -A-A-B-B lingering · darkA · me · barkA · cherish'd · dayB · greenwood · awayB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bird of the greenwood! | 5 | ···/· |
| Oh, why art thou here? | 5 | ····· |
| Leaves dance not o’er thee, | 5 | ····· |
| Flowers bloom not near. | 5 | /˘··· |
| All the sweet waters | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Far hence are at play-- | 5 | ····· |
| Bird of the greenwood! | 5 | ···/· |
| Away, away! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| Where the mast quivers | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Thy place will not be, | 5 | ····· |
| As midst the waving | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of wild-rose and tree. | 5 | ····· |
| How shouldst thou battle | 5 | ···/˘ |
| With storm and with spray? | 5 | ····· |
| Bird of the greenwood! | 5 | ···/· |
| Away, away! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| Or art thou seeking | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Some brighter land, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Where by the south wind | 5 | ····· |
| Vine leaves are fann’d? | 4 | ···· |
| ’Midst the wild billows | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Why then delay? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Bird of the greenwood! | 5 | ···/· |
| Away, away! | 4 | ˘/˘/ |
| “Chide not my lingering | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Where storms are dark; | 4 | ···· |
| A hand that hath nursed me | 6 | ······ |
| Is in the bark-- | 4 | ···· |
| A heart that hath cherish’d | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Through winter’s long day: | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| So I turn from the greenwood, | 7 | ·····/· |
| Away, away!” | 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.