The Albatross
Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)
Often to pass the time on board, the crew
will catch an albatross, one of those big birds
which nonchalently chaperone a ship
across the bitter fathoms of the sea.
Tied to the deck, this sovereign of space,
as if embarrassed by its clumsiness,
pitiably lets its great white wings
drag at its sides like a pair of unshipped oars.
How weak and awkward, even comical
this traveller but lately so adoit -
one deckhand sticks a pipestem in its beak,
another mocks the cripple that once flew!
The Poet is like this monarch of the clouds
riding the storm above the marksman's range;
exiled on the ground, hooted and jeered,
he cannot walk because of his great wings.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 136 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXX XXBX XCXA XXCB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 652 |
Words | 121 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Albatross" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/5008/the-albatross>.
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