Analysis of Said The Skylark
Isabella Valancy Crawford 1850 (Dublin) – 1887 (Toronto)
'O soft, small cloud, the dim, sweet dawn adorning,
Swan-like a-sailing on its tender grey;
Why dost thou, dost thou float,
So high, the wing'd, wild note
Of silver lamentation from my dark and pulsing throat
May never reach thee,
Tho' every note beseech thee
To bend thy white wings downward thro' the smiling of the morning,
And by the black wires of my prison lightly stray?
'O dear, small cloud, when all blue morn is ringing
With sweet notes piped from other throats than mine;
If those glad singers please
The tall and nodding trees--
If to them dance the pennants of the swaying columbine,
If to their songs are set
The dance of daffodil and trembling violet--
Will they pursue thee
With tireless wings as free and bold as thine?
Will they woo thee
With love throbs in the music of their singing?
Ah, nay! fair Cloud, ah, nay!
Their hearts and wings will stay
With yellow bud of primrose and soft blush of the May;
Their songs will thrill and die,
Tranc'd in the perfume of the rose's breast.
While I must see thee fly
With white, broad, lonely pinions down the sky.
'O fair, small cloud, unheeding o'er me straying,
Jewell'd with topaz light of fading stars;
Thy downy edges red
As the great eagle of the Dawn sails high
And sets his fire-bright head
And wind-blown pinions towards thy snowy breast;
And thou canst blush while I
Must pierce myself with song and die
On the bald sod behind my prison bars;
Nor feel upon my crest
Thy soft, sunn'd touches delicately playing!
'O fair, small cloud, grown small as lily flow'r!
Even while I smite the bars to see thee fade;
The wind shall bring thee
The strain I sing thee--
I, in wired prison stay'd,
Worse than the breathless primrose glade.
That in my morn,
I shrilly sang to scorn;
I'll burst my heart up to thee in this hour!
'O fair, small cloud, float nearer yet and hear me!
A prison'd lark once lov'd a snowy cloud,
Nor did the Day
With sapphire lips, and kiss
Of summery bliss,
Draw all her soul away;
Vainly the fervent East
Deck'd her with roses for their bridal feast;
She would not rest
In his red arms, but slipp'd adown the air
And wan and fair,
Her light foot touch'd a purple mountain crest,
And touching, turn'd
Into swift rain, that like to jewels burn'd;
In the great, wondering azure of the sky;
And while a rainbow spread
Its mighty arms above, she, singing, fled
To the lone-feather'd slave,
In his sad weird grave,
Whose heart upon his silver song had sped
To her in days of old,
In dawns of gold,
And murmuring to him, said:
'O love, I come! O love, I come to cheer thee--
Love, to be near thee!''
Scheme | ABCCCDDAB AEFFEXXDEDABBBGHGG AIJGJHGGIHA XKDDKKLLX DXBMMBNNHOOHPPGJJQQJRRJDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111010 1101011101 111111 110111 11011110101 11011 11001011 111111010101010 0101101110101 11111111110 1111110111 111101 010101 1111010101010 111111 011100100100 11011 11001110111 1111 11100101110 111111 110111 110111011101 111101 1000110101 111111 111101101 1111110110 11111101 110101 1011010111 0111011 0111011101 011111 1111101 1011011101 110111 11110100010 11111111011 10111011111 01111 01111 1010101 1101011 1011 11111 11111110110 11111101011 0101110101 1101 1100101 111 110101 100101 1011011101 1111 011111101 0101 0111010101 0101 0111111101 00110010101 01011 1101011101 101101 01111 1101110111 100111 0111 0100111 11111111111 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,513 |
Words | 481 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 18, 11, 9, 25 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 396 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 96 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:29 min read
- 53 Views
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"Said The Skylark" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/19919/said-the-skylark>.
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