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.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
87

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX ABXB XCXC ADXD XEXE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 615
Words 110
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Vachel Lindsay

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. more…

All Vachel Lindsay poems | Vachel Lindsay Books

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