The Legend of the Crossbill
On the cross the dying SaviourHeavenward lifts his eyelids calm,Feels, but scarcely feels, a tremblingIn his pierced and bleeding palm.
And by all the world forsaken,Sees he how with zealous careAt the ruthless nail of ironA little bird is striving there.
Stained with blood and never tiring,With its beak it doth not cease,From the cross 't would free the Saviour,Its Creator's Son release.
And the Saviour speaks in mildness:"Blest be thou of all the good!Bear, as token of this moment,Marks of blood and holy rood!"
And that bird is called the crossbill;Covered all with blood so clear,In the groves of pine it singethSongs, like legends, strange to hear.
Words in this poem
- saviour n.
- One who saves, preserves, or delivers from destruction or danger. [OE. saveour, OF. salveor, F. sauveur, fr. L. salvator to save. See Save, v.]
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- rood n.
- A representation in sculpture or in painting of the cross with Christ hanging on it. [AS. rr, D. roede rod, G. ruthe, rute, OHG. ruota. CF. Rod a measure.]
- crossbill
- A bill brought by a defendant, in an equity or chancery suit, against the plaintiff, respecting the matter in question in that suit. Bouvier.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Legend of the Crossbill is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Legend of the Crossbill, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-legend-of-the-crossbill.html, id L26180.
Form and metre
The Legend of the Crossbill is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 saviour · calmA · trembling · palmA
- 2 -A-A forsaken · careA · iron · thereA
- 3 -A-A tiring · ceaseA · saviour · releaseA
- 5 -A-A crossbill · clearA · singeth · hearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On the cross the dying Saviour | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Heavenward lifts his eyelids calm, | 8 | /˘˘··/·· |
| Feels, but scarcely feels, a trembling | 9 | ··/˘··/˘˘ |
| In his pierced and bleeding palm. | 8 | ···˘·/˘· |
| And by all the world forsaken, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Sees he how with zealous care | 7 | ····/˘· |
| At the ruthless nail of iron | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| A little bird is striving there. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Stained with blood and never tiring, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| With its beak it doth not cease, | 7 | ······· |
| From the cross 't would free the Saviour, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Its Creator's Son release. | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| And the Saviour speaks in mildness: | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| "Blest be thou of all the good! | 7 | ······· |
| Bear, as token of this moment, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Marks of blood and holy rood!" | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And that bird is called the crossbill; | 8 | ······/· |
| Covered all with blood so clear, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| In the groves of pine it singeth | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Songs, like legends, strange to hear. | 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.