Analysis of The Modest Jazz-Bird

Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)



The Jazz-bird sings a barnyard song—
A cock-a-doodle bray,
A jingle-bells, a boiler works,
A he-man's roundelay.

The eagle said, 'My noisy son,
I send you out to fight!'
So the youngster spread his sunflower wings
And roared with all his might.

His headlight eyes went flashing
From Oregon to Maine;
And the land was dark with airships
In the darting Jazz-bird's train.

Crossing the howling ocean,
His bell-mouth shook the sky;
And the Yankees in the trenches
Gave back the hue and cry.

And Europe had not heard the like—
And Germany went down!
The fowl of steel with clashing claws
Tore off the Kaiser's crown.


Scheme XXXX ABXB XCXC ADXD XEXE
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Etheree  (30%)
Metre 0111011 010101 01010101 0111 01011101 111111 101011101 011111 111110 110011 0011111 0010111 1001010 111101 00100010 110101 01011101 010011 01111101 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 615
Words 110
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
87

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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