When I Was a Bird
I climbed up the karaka treeInto a nest all made of leavesBut soft as feathers.I made up a song that went on singing all by itselfAnd hadn’t any words, but got sad at the end.There were daisies in the grass under the tree.I said just to try them:“I’ll bite off your heads and give them to my little children to eat.”But they didn’t believe I was a bird;They stayed quite open.The sky was like a blue nest with white feathersAnd the sun was the mother bird keeping it warm.That’s what my song said: though it hadn’t any words.Little Brother came up the patch, wheeling his barrow.I made my dress into wings and kept very quiet.Then when he was quite near I said: “Sweet, sweet!”For a moment he looked quite startled;Then he said: “Pooh, you’re not a bird; I can see your legs.”But the daisies didn’t really matter,And Little Brother didn’t really matter;I felt just like a bird.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- pooh interj.
- Pshaw! pish! nonsense! -- an expression of scorn, dislike, or contempt. [Of. imitative origin; cf. Icel. pu.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When I Was a Bird 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, When I Was a Bird, in Poems (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59276, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mansfield-poems/when-i-was-a-bird.html, id L27575.
Form and metre
When I Was a Bird is 21 lines in a single stanza.
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-B--A-CD-B---CC--EED treeA · leaves · feathersB · itself · end · treeA · them · eatC · birdD · open · feathersB · warm · words · barrow · quietC · sweetC · startled · legs · matterE · matterE · birdD
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I climbed up the karaka tree | 8 | ········ |
| Into a nest all made of leaves | 8 | ········ |
| But soft as feathers. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I made up a song that went on singing all by itself | 14 | ········/˘··˘/ |
| And hadn’t any words, but got sad at the end. | 12 | ·/˘/˘······· |
| There were daisies in the grass under the tree. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| I said just to try them: | 6 | ······ |
| “I’ll bite off your heads and give them to my little children to eat.” | 16 | ··········/˘/˘·· |
| But they didn’t believe I was a bird; | 10 | ··/˘˘/···· |
| They stayed quite open. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The sky was like a blue nest with white feathers | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And the sun was the mother bird keeping it warm. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| That’s what my song said: though it hadn’t any words. | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
| Little Brother came up the patch, wheeling his barrow. | 13 | /˘/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| I made my dress into wings and kept very quiet. | 12 | ·········/˘/ |
| Then when he was quite near I said: “Sweet, sweet!” | 10 | ·········· |
| For a moment he looked quite startled; | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Then he said: “Pooh, you’re not a bird; I can see your legs.” | 13 | ············· |
| But the daisies didn’t really matter, | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| And Little Brother didn’t really matter; | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| I felt just like a bird. | 6 | ······ |
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.