The Mocking-Bird
Superb and sole, upon a plumed sprayThat o'er the general leafage boldly grew,He summ'd the woods in song; or typic drewThe watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismayOf languid doves when long their lovers stray,And all birds' passion-plays that sprinkle dewAt morn in brake or bosky avenue.Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say.Then down he shot, bounced airily alongThe sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made songMidflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again.Sweet Science, this large riddle read me plain:How may the death of that dull insect beThe life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree?
Words in this poem
- superb a.
- Grand; magnificent; august; stately; as, a superb edifice; a superb colonnade. [F. superbe, L. superbus, fr. super over. See Super-.]
- leafage n.
- Leaves, collectively; foliage.
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- bosky a.
- Woody or bushy; covered with boscage or thickets. [Cf. Bushy.]
- avenue n.
- A way or opening for entrance into a place; a passage by which a place may by reached; a way of approach or of exit. [F. avenue, fr. avenir to come to, L. advenire. See Advene.]
- airily adv.
- In an airy manner; lightly; gaily; jauntily; fippantly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Mocking-Bird is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Sidney Lanier, Project Gutenberg ebook #579; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sidney Lanier, The Mocking-Bird, in Poems (1884), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #579, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lanier-poems/the-mocking-bird.html, id L07612.
Form and metre
The Mocking-Bird is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACCDDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBACCDDEE sprayA · grewB · drewB · dismayA · strayA · dewB · avenueB · sayA · alongC · songC · againD · plainD · beE · treeE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Superb and sole, upon a plumed spray | 10 | ˘/······˘· |
| That o'er the general leafage boldly grew, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| He summ'd the woods in song; or typic drew | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The watch of hungry hawks, the lone dismay | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Of languid doves when long their lovers stray, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And all birds' passion-plays that sprinkle dew | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| At morn in brake or bosky avenue. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Whate'er birds did or dreamed, this bird could say. | 11 | ˘˘/········ |
| Then down he shot, bounced airily along | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song | 10 | ·····/·˘·· |
| Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again. | 10 | /·······˘/ |
| Sweet Science, this large riddle read me plain: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| How may the death of that dull insect be | 10 | ·······/·· |
| The life of yon trim Shakespeare on the tree? | 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.