Bird-Songs
I will sing a song,Said the owl.You sing a song, sing-songUgly fowl!What will you sing about,Night in and day out?
All about the night,When the grayWith her cloak smothers bright,Hard, sharp day.Oh, the moon! the cool dew!And the shadows!--tu-whoo!
I will sing a song,Said the nightingale.Sing a song, long, long,Little Neverfail!What will you sing about,Day in or day out?
All about the lightGone away,Down, away, and out of sight:Wake up, day!For the master is not dead,Only gone to bed.
I will sing a song,Said the lark.Sing, sing, Throat-strong,Little Kill-the-dark!What will you sing about,Day in and night out?
I can only call!I can't think!Let me up, that's all!I see a chink!I've been thirsting all nightFor the glorious light!
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Bird-Songs is in the public domain. This text is taken from The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #9984; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George MacDonald, Bird-Songs, in A Microcosm in Terza Rima, and Other Poems (1893), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9984, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/macdonald-poems/bird-songs.html, id L22337.
Form and metre
Bird-Songs is 36 lines in 6 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCC songA · owlB · songA · fowlB · aboutC · outC
- 2 ABABCC nightA · grayB · brightA · dayB · dewC · whooC
- 3 A-A-BB songA · nightingale · longA · neverfail · aboutB · outB
- 4 ABABCC lightA · awayB · sightA · dayB · deadC · bedC
- 5 ABABCC songA · larkB · strongA · darkB · aboutC · outC
- 6 ABABCC callA · thinkB · allA · chinkB · nightC · lightC
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I will sing a song, | 5 | ····· |
| Said the owl. | 3 | ··· |
| You sing a song, sing-song | 6 | ······ |
| Ugly fowl! | 3 | /˘· |
| What will you sing about, | 6 | ······ |
| Night in and day out? | 5 | ····· |
| All about the night, | 5 | ····· |
| When the gray | 3 | ··· |
| With her cloak smothers bright, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hard, sharp day. | 3 | ··· |
| Oh, the moon! the cool dew! | 6 | ······ |
| And the shadows!--tu-whoo! | 6 | ··/··· |
| I will sing a song, | 5 | ····· |
| Said the nightingale. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Sing a song, long, long, | 5 | ····· |
| Little Neverfail! | 5 | /˘··· |
| What will you sing about, | 6 | ······ |
| Day in or day out? | 5 | ····· |
| All about the light | 5 | ····· |
| Gone away, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Down, away, and out of sight: | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Wake up, day! | 3 | ··· |
| For the master is not dead, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Only gone to bed. | 5 | /˘··· |
| I will sing a song, | 5 | ····· |
| Said the lark. | 3 | ··· |
| Sing, sing, Throat-strong, | 4 | ···· |
| Little Kill-the-dark! | 5 | /˘··· |
| What will you sing about, | 6 | ······ |
| Day in and night out? | 5 | ····· |
| I can only call! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I can't think! | 3 | ··· |
| Let me up, that's all! | 5 | ····· |
| I see a chink! | 4 | ···· |
| I've been thirsting all night | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For the glorious light! | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.