Analysis of A Wren's Nest
William Wordsworth 1770 (Wordsworth House) – 1850 (Cumberland)
AMONG the dwellings framed by birds
In field or forest with nice care,
Is none that with the little Wren's
In snugness may compare.
No door the tenement requires,
And seldom needs a laboured roof;
Yet is it to the fiercest sun
Impervious, and storm-proof.
So warm, so beautiful withal,
In perfect fitness for its aim,
That to the Kind by special grace
Their instinct surely came.
And when for their abodes they seek
An opportune recess,
The hermit has no finer eye
For shadowy quietness.
These find, 'mid ivied abbey-walls,
A canopy in some still nook;
Others are pent-housed by a brae
That overhangs a brook.
There to the brooding bird her mate
Warbles by fits his low clear song;
And by the busy streamlet both
Are sung to all day long.
Or in sequestered lanes they build,
Where, till the flitting bird's return,
Her eggs within the nest repose,
Like relics in an urn.
But still, where general choice is good,
There is a better and a best;
And, among fairest objects, some
Are fairer than the rest;
This, one of those small builders proved
In a green covert, where, from out
The forehead of a pollard oak,
The leafy antlers sprout;
For She who planned the mossy lodge,
Mistrusting her evasive skill,
Had to a Primrose looked for aid
Her wishes to fulfill.
High on the trunk's projecting brow,
And fixed an infant's span above
The budding flowers, peeped forth the nest
The prettiest of the grove!
The treasure proudly did I show
To some whose minds without disdain
Can turn to little things; but once
Looked up for it in vain:
'Tis gone---a ruthless spoiler's prey,
Who heeds not beauty, love, or song,
'Tis gone! (so seemed it) and we grieved
Indignant at the wrong.
Just three days after, passing by
In clearer light the moss-built cell
I saw, espied its shaded mouth;
And felt that all was well.
The Primrose for a veil had spread
The largest of her upright leaves;
And thus, for purposes benign,
A simple flower deceives.
Concealed from friends who might disturb
Thy quiet with no ill intent,
Secure from evil eyes and hands
On barbarous plunder bent,
Rest, Mother-bird! and when thy young
Take flight, and thou art free to roam,
When withered is the guardian Flower,
And empty thy late home,
Think how ye prospered, thou and thine,
Amid the unviolated grove
Housed near the growing Primrose-tuft
In foresight, or in love.
Scheme | ABAB XCXC DEXE XXFX XGHG XIXI XJXJ XKXK XLXL XDXD XMKN XOXO HIXI FDXD XXPA XQXQ XRXR PNXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 01010111 01110111 11110101 01101 110100010 0101011 11110101 0100011 1111001 00110111 11011101 110101 0111111 10101 01011101 1100100 1111101 01000111 10111101 11001 11010101 10111111 0101011 111111 10010111 11010101 01010101 110011 111100111 11010001 00110101 110101 11111101 00110111 01010101 010101 1111011 01000101 1101111 010101 11010101 01110101 010101101 0100101 01010111 11110101 11110111 111101 1101011 11110111 11111011 010101 11110101 01010111 1111101 011111 0110111 01010011 01110001 010101 01111101 11011101 01110101 1100101 11010111 11011111 1101010010 010111 11110101 01011 1101011 01101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,446 |
Words | 415 |
Sentences | 16 |
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) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 2:06 min read
- 261 Views
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"A Wren's Nest" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42126/a-wren%27s-nest>.
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