The Birds of Passage
Birds, joyous birds of the wandering wing!Whence is it ye come with the flowers of spring?“We come from the shores of the green old Nile,From the land where the roses of Sharon smile,From the palms that wave through the Indian sky,From the myrrh-trees of glowing Araby.
“We have swept o’er cities in song renown’d--Silent they lie with the deserts round!We have cross’d proud rivers, whose tide hath roll’dAll dark with the warrior-blood of old;And each worn wing hath regain’d its home,Under peasant’s roof-trees or monarch’s dome.”
And what have ye found in the monarch’s dome,Since last ye traversed the blue sea’s foam?--“We have found a change, we have found a pall,And a gloom o’ershadowing the banquet’s hall,And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt--Naught looks the same, save the nest we built!”
O joyous birds! it hath still been so;Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go!But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep,And the hills o’er their quiet a vigil keep:Say what have ye found in the peasant’s cot,Since last ye parted from that sweet spot?--
“A change we have found there--and many a change!Faces and footsteps, and all things strange!Gone are the heads of the silvery hair,And the young that were have a brow of care,And the place is hush’d where the children play’d--Naught looks the same, save the nest we made!”
Sad is your tale of the beautiful earth,Birds that o’ersweep it in power and mirth!Yet through the wastes of the trackless airYe have a guide, and shall we despair?Ye over desert and deep have pass’d--So may we reach our bright home at last!
Words in this poem
- araby n.
- The country of Arabia.
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Birds of Passage 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 Birds of Passage, in Poems (1808–1835), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66785, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hemans-poems/the-birds-of-passage.html, id L19459.
Form and metre
The Birds of Passage is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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-- wingA · springA · nileB · smileB · sky · araby
- 2 AABBCC renown'dA · roundA · roll'dB · oldB · homeC · domeC
- 3 AABBCC domeA · foamA · pallB · hallB · spiltC · builtC
- 4 AABBCC soA · goA · deepB · keepB · cotC · spotC
- 5 AABBCC changeA · strangeA · hairB · careB · play'dC · madeC
- 6 AABBCC earthA · mirthA · airB · despairB · pass'dC · lastC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Birds, joyous birds of the wandering wing! | 10 | ·/˘···/˘˘· |
| Whence is it ye come with the flowers of spring? | 10 | ·······/·· |
| “We come from the shores of the green old Nile, | 10 | ·········· |
| From the land where the roses of Sharon smile, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/· |
| From the palms that wave through the Indian sky, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From the myrrh-trees of glowing Araby. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| “We have swept o’er cities in song renown’d-- | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Silent they lie with the deserts round! | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| We have cross’d proud rivers, whose tide hath roll’d | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| All dark with the warrior-blood of old; | 10 | ····/˘˘··· |
| And each worn wing hath regain’d its home, | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| Under peasant’s roof-trees or monarch’s dome.” | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| And what have ye found in the monarch’s dome, | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Since last ye traversed the blue sea’s foam?-- | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| “We have found a change, we have found a pall, | 10 | ·········· |
| And a gloom o’ershadowing the banquet’s hall, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| And a mark on the floor as of life-drops spilt-- | 11 | ··········· |
| Naught looks the same, save the nest we built!” | 9 | ········· |
| O joyous birds! it hath still been so; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Through the halls of kings doth the tempest go! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But the huts of the hamlet lie still and deep, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| And the hills o’er their quiet a vigil keep: | 10 | ·····/·/˘· |
| Say what have ye found in the peasant’s cot, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Since last ye parted from that sweet spot?-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| “A change we have found there--and many a change! | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Faces and footsteps, and all things strange! | 9 | /˘·/····· |
| Gone are the heads of the silvery hair, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| And the young that were have a brow of care, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the place is hush’d where the children play’d-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Naught looks the same, save the nest we made!” | 9 | ········· |
| Sad is your tale of the beautiful earth, | 10 | ······/˘˘· |
| Birds that o’ersweep it in power and mirth! | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Yet through the wastes of the trackless air | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Ye have a guide, and shall we despair? | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Ye over desert and deep have pass’d-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| So may we reach our bright home at last! | 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.