Voices of the Air
But then there comes that moment rareWhen, for no cause that I can find,The little voices of the airSound above all the sea and wind.
The sea and wind do then obeyAnd sighing, sighing double notesOf double basses, content to playA droning chord for the little throats—
The little throats that sing and riseUp into the light with lovely easeAnd a kind of magical, sweet surpriseTo hear and know themselves for these—
For these little voices: the bee, the fly,The leaf that taps, the pod that breaks,The breeze on the grass-tops bending by,The shrill quick sound that the insect makes.
About this text
Voices of the Air is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #59276; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Katherine Mansfield, Voices of the Air, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/voices-of-the-air.html, id L27602.
Form and metre
Voices of the Air is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABAB rareA · findB · airA · windB
- 2 ABAB obeyA · notesB · playA · throatsB
- 3 ABAB riseA · easeB · surpriseA · theseB
- 4 ABAB flyA · breaksB · byA · makesB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But then there comes that moment rare | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When, for no cause that I can find, | 8 | ········ |
| The little voices of the air | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Sound above all the sea and wind. | 8 | ········ |
| The sea and wind do then obey | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And sighing, sighing double notes | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Of double basses, content to play | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| A droning chord for the little throats— | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| The little throats that sing and rise | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Up into the light with lovely ease | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And a kind of magical, sweet surprise | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| To hear and know themselves for these— | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For these little voices: the bee, the fly, | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| The leaf that taps, the pod that breaks, | 8 | ········ |
| The breeze on the grass-tops bending by, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The shrill quick sound that the insect makes. | 9 | ······/·· |
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.