The Blackbird
High trees close me roundFar from the ground the blackbird sings,Trilling, it chants its layAbove my well-lined book to-day.
In its soft veil of greyThe wayward cuckoo calls aloud;Within my wall of green,My God shrouds me, all unseen.
Words in this poem
- trilling n.
- One of tree children born at the same birth. Wright. [Cf. G. drilling.]
- wayward a.
- Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Blackbird is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poem-Book of the Gael Translations from Irish Gaelic Poetry into English Prose and Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #46917; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eleanor Hull, The Blackbird, in The Poem-Book of the Gael (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #46917, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hull-gael/the-blackbird.html, id L11700.
Form and metre
The Blackbird is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 --AA round · sings · layA · dayA
- 2 --AA grey · aloud · greenA · unseenA
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 trees close me round | 5 | ····· |
| Far from the ground the blackbird sings, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Trilling, it chants its lay | 6 | /˘···· |
| Above my well-lined book to-day. | 8 | ········ |
| In its soft veil of grey | 6 | ······ |
| The wayward cuckoo calls aloud; | 8 | ·/˘/··˘/ |
| Within my wall of green, | 6 | ······ |
| My God shrouds me, all unseen. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
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.