Bird-Songs by George MacDonald: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Bird-Songs that begins with:

I will sing a song,
Said the owl....

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: AbabCc cdcdXX AbaXCc cdcdee AfafCcXbfbfcc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 6,6,6,6,13,
  • Closest metre: iambic trimeter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 10101 101 110111 101 101101 10111 10101 101 001101 111 101011 101111 10101 10100 10111 10100 101101 10111 10101 101 1011101 111 1010011 10101 10101 101 1111 10101 101101 10111 11101 111 11111 1101 101011 101001
  • Amount of stanzas: 6
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 127
  • Average number of words per stanza: 26
  • Amount of lines: 36
  • Average number of symbols per line: 20 (very short strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 4

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; sing, song are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same word i is repeated.

    The author used the same word i at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of Bird-Songs;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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