A Bird's-Eye View
'Croak, croak, croak,'Thus the Raven spoke,Perched on his crooked treeAs hoarse as hoarse could be.Shun him and fear him,Lest the Bridegroom hear him;Scout him and rout himWith his ominous eye about him.
Yet, 'Croak, croak, croak,'Still tolled from the oak;From that fatal black bird,Whether heard or unheard:'O ship upon the high seas,Freighted with lives and spices,Sink, O ship,' croaked the Raven:'Let the Bride mount to heaven.'
In a far foreign land,Upon the wave-edged sand,Some friends gaze wistfullyAcross the glittering sea.'If we could clasp our sister,'Three say, 'now we have missed her!''If we could kiss our daughter!'Two sigh across the water.
Oh, the ship sails fastWith silken flags at the mast,And the home-wind blows soft;But a Raven sits aloft,Chuckling and choking,Croaking, croaking, croaking:--Let the beacon-fire blaze higher;Bridegroom, watch; the Bride draws nigher.
On a sloped sandy beach,Which the spring-tide billows reach,Stand a watchful throngWho have hoped and waited long:'Fie on this ship, that tarriesWith the priceless freight it carries.The time seems long and longer:O languid wind, wax stronger;'--
Whilst the Raven perched at easeStill croaks and does not cease,One monotonous noteTolled from his iron throat:'No father, no mother,But I have a sable brother:He sees where ocean flows to,And he knows what he knows, too.'
A day and a nightThey kept watch worn and white;A night and a dayFor the swift ship on its way:For the Bride and her maidens--Clear chimes the bridal cadence--For the tall ship that neverHove in sight for ever.
On either shore, someStand in grief loud or dumbAs the dreadful dreadGrows certain though unsaid.For laughter there is weeping,And waking instead of sleeping,And a desperate sorrowMorrow after morrow.
Oh, who knows the truth,How she perished in her youth,And like a queen went downPale in her royal crown:How she went up to gloryFrom the sea-foam chill and hoary,From the sea-depth black and rivenTo the calm that is in Heaven?
They went down, all the crew,The silks and spices too,The great ones and the small,One and all, one and all.Was it through stress of weather,Quicksands, rocks, or all together?Only the Raven knows this,And he will not disclose this.--
After a day and yearThe bridal bells chime clear;After a year and a dayThe Bridegroom is brave and gay:Love is sound, faith is rotten;The old Bride is forgotten:--Two ominous Ravens onlyRemember, black and lonely.
Words in this poem
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- choking a.
- That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation.
- priceless a.
- Too valuable to admit of being appraised; of inestimable worth; invaluable.
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- hove v. i.
- To rise; to swell; to heave; to cause to swell.
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- chime n.
- The harmonious sound of bells, or of musical instruments. [OE. chimbe, prop., cymbal, OF. cymbe, cymble, in a dialectic form, chymble, F. cymbale, L. cymbalum, fr. Gr. Cymbal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Bird's-Eye View is in the public domain. This text is taken from Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #16950; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Christina Rossetti, A Bird's-Eye View, in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rossetti-goblin-market/a-bird-s-eye-view.html, id L04308.
Form and metre
A Bird's-Eye View is 88 lines in 11 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.6 syllables. 34 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AABBCCCC croakA · spokeA · treeB · beB · himC · himC · himC · himC
- 2 AABBCC-- croakA · oakA · birdB · unheardB · seasC · spicesC · raven · heaven
- 3 AA----BB landA · sandA · wistfully · sea · sister · her · daughterB · waterB
- 4 AABBCCDD fastA · mastA · softB · aloftB · chokingC · croakingC · higherD · nigherD
- 5 AABBCCDD beachA · reachA · throngB · longB · tarriesC · carriesC · longerD · strongerD
- 6 --AABBCC ease · cease · noteA · throatA · motherB · brotherB · toC · tooC
- 7 AABB--CC nightA · whiteA · dayB · wayB · maidens · cadence · neverC · everC
- 8 AABBCCDD someA · dumbA · dreadB · unsaidB · weepingC · sleepingC · sorrowD · morrowD
- 9 AABBCCBB truthA · youthA · downB · crownB · gloryC · hoaryC · rivenB · heavenB
- 10 AABBCCDD crewA · tooA · smallB · allB · weatherC · togetherC · thisD · thisD
- 11 AABBCCDD yearA · clearA · dayB · gayB · rottenC · forgottenC · onlyD · lonelyD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Croak, croak, croak,' | 3 | ··· |
| Thus the Raven spoke, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Perched on his crooked tree | 8 | ·˘··/˘˘· |
| As hoarse as hoarse could be. | 6 | ······ |
| Shun him and fear him, | 5 | ····· |
| Lest the Bridegroom hear him; | 6 | ··/··· |
| Scout him and rout him | 5 | ····· |
| With his ominous eye about him. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Yet, 'Croak, croak, croak,' | 4 | ···· |
| Still tolled from the oak; | 5 | ····· |
| From that fatal black bird, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Whether heard or unheard: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| 'O ship upon the high seas, | 7 | ······· |
| Freighted with lives and spices, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Sink, O ship,' croaked the Raven: | 8 | ····˘·/˘ |
| 'Let the Bride mount to heaven.' | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In a far foreign land, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Upon the wave-edged sand, | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Some friends gaze wistfully | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Across the glittering sea. | 7 | ˘/·/˘˘· |
| 'If we could clasp our sister,' | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Three say, 'now we have missed her!' | 8 | ······˘· |
| 'If we could kiss our daughter!' | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Two sigh across the water. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Oh, the ship sails fast | 5 | ····· |
| With silken flags at the mast, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And the home-wind blows soft; | 6 | ······ |
| But a Raven sits aloft, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Chuckling and choking, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Croaking, croaking, croaking:-- | 6 | /˘/˘/˘ |
| Let the beacon-fire blaze higher; | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Bridegroom, watch; the Bride draws nigher. | 8 | /······· |
| On a sloped sandy beach, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Which the spring-tide billows reach, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Stand a watchful throng | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Who have hoped and waited long: | 8 | ···˘·/˘· |
| 'Fie on this ship, that tarries | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| With the priceless freight it carries. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| The time seems long and longer: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O languid wind, wax stronger;'-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Whilst the Raven perched at ease | 8 | ··/˘·˘·· |
| Still croaks and does not cease, | 6 | ······ |
| One monotonous note | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| Tolled from his iron throat: | 7 | ·˘··/˘· |
| 'No father, no mother, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| But I have a sable brother: | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| He sees where ocean flows to, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| And he knows what he knows, too.' | 7 | ······· |
| A day and a night | 5 | ····· |
| They kept watch worn and white; | 6 | ······ |
| A night and a day | 5 | ····· |
| For the swift ship on its way: | 7 | ······· |
| For the Bride and her maidens | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| --Clear chimes the bridal cadence-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| For the tall ship that never | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Hove in sight for ever. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| On either shore, some | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Stand in grief loud or dumb | 6 | ······ |
| As the dreadful dread | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Grows certain though unsaid. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| For laughter there is weeping, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And waking instead of sleeping, | 8 | ·/˘˘/·/˘ |
| And a desperate sorrow | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Morrow after morrow. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Oh, who knows the truth, | 5 | ····· |
| How she perished in her youth, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And like a queen went down | 6 | ······ |
| Pale in her royal crown: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| How she went up to glory | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From the sea-foam chill and hoary, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From the sea-depth black and riven | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To the calm that is in Heaven? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| They went down, all the crew, | 6 | ······ |
| The silks and spices too, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The great ones and the small, | 6 | ······ |
| One and all, one and all. | 6 | ······ |
| Was it through stress of weather, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Quicksands, rocks, or all together? | 8 | /····˘/˘ |
| Only the Raven knows this, | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| And he will not disclose this.-- | 7 | ····˘/· |
| After a day and year | 6 | ······ |
| The bridal bells chime clear; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| After a year and a day | 7 | ······· |
| The Bridegroom is brave and gay: | 7 | ·/····· |
| Love is sound, faith is rotten; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The old Bride is forgotten:-- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Two ominous Ravens only | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Remember, black and lonely. | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
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