Analysis of St. Francis and the Birds
Katharine Tynan 1861 (Ireland) – 1931
Little sisters, the birds:
We must praise God, you and I
You, with songs that fill the sky,
I, with halting words.
All things tell His praise,
Woods and waters thereof sing,
Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring,
And the night and days.
Yea, and cold and heat,
And the sun and stars and moon,
Sea with her monotonous tune,
Rain and hail and sleet,
And the winds of heaven,
And the solemn hills of blue,
And the brown earth and the dew,
And the thunder even,
And the flowers' sweet breath.
All things make one glorious voice;
Life with fleeting pains and joys,
And our brother, Death.
Little flowers of air,
With your feathers soft and sleek,
And your bright brown eyes and meek,
He hath made you fair.
He hath taught to you
Skill to weave in tree and thatch
Nests where happy mothers hatch
Speckled eggs of blue.
And hath children given:
When the soft heads overbrim
The brown nests, then thank ye Him
In the clouds of heaven.
Also in your lives
Live His laws Who loveth you.
Husbands, be ye kind and true;
Be home-keeping, wives:
Love not gossiping;
Stay at home and keep the nest;
Fly not here and there in quest
Of the newest thing.
Live as brethren live:
Love be in each heart and mouth;
Be not envious, be not wroth,
Be not slow to give.
When ye build the nest,
Quarrel not o'er straw or wool;
He who hath be bountiful
To the neediest.
Be not puffed nor vain
Of your beauty or your worth,
Of your children or your birth,
Or the praise ye gain.
Eat not greedily:
Sometimes for sweet mercy's sake,
Worm or insect spare to take;
Let it crawl or fly.
See ye sing not near
To our church on holy day,
Lest the human-folk should stray
From their prayers to hear.
Now depart in peace:
In God's name I bless each one;
May your days be long i' the sun
And your joys increase.
And remember me,
Your poor brother Francis, who
Loves you and gives thanks to you
For this courtesy.
Sometimes when ye sing,
Name my name, that He may take
Pity for the dear song's sake
On my shortcoming.
Scheme | ABBA CDDC EFFE GHHX IXXI JKKJ HLLH GMMG XHHX DNND XXIX NXXX OPPO QRRB XSSX TGGT MHHQ DRRD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (61%) |
Metre | 101001 1111101 1111101 11101 11111 101011 1010101 00101 10101 0010101 11001001 10101 001110 0010111 0011001 001010 001011 11111001 1110101 010101 101011 1110101 0111101 11111 11111 1110101 1110101 10111 011010 10111 0111111 001110 10011 111111 1011101 11101 11100 1110101 1110101 10101 11101 1101101 11100111 11111 11101 10110111 1111100 10100 11111 1110111 1110111 10111 11100 011111 111111 11111 11111 11011101 1010111 11111 10101 0111111 11111101 01101 00101 1110101 1101111 11100 01111 1111111 1010111 1110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,968 |
Words | 376 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 84 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 81 Views
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"St. Francis and the Birds" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/25009/st.-francis-and-the-birds>.
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