BIRDS

ROBERT OF LINCOLN

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

Merrily swinging on brier and weed,

Near to the nest of his little dame,

Over the mountain side or mead,

Robert of Lincoln is telling his name:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Snug and safe is this nest of ours,

Hidden among the summer flowers,

Chee, chee, chee!”

Robert of Lincoln is gayly dressed,

Wearing a bright, black wedding coat;

White are his shoulders, and white his crest,

Hear him call in his merry note:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Look what a nice new coat is mine;

Sure, there was never a bird so fine.

Chee, chee, chee!”

Robert of Lincoln’s Quaker wife,

Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,

Passing at home a patient life,

Broods in the grass while her husband sings:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Brood, kind creature; you need not fear

Thieves and robbers while I am here.

Chee, chee, chee!”

Modest and shy as a nun is she;

One weak chirp is her only note;

Braggart, and [prince of braggarts] is he,

Pouring boasts from his little throat:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Never was I afraid of man,

Catch me, cowardly knaves, if you can.

Chee, chee, chee!”

Six white eggs on a bed of hay,

Flecked with purple, a pretty sight,

There, as the mother sits all day,

Robert is singing with all his might:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Nice good wife that never goes out,

Keeping house while I frolic about.

Chee, chee, chee!”

Soon as the little ones [chip the shell],

Six wide mouths are open for food;

Robert of Lincoln [bestirs him well],

Gathering seeds for the hungry brood.

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

This new life is likely to be

Hard for a gay young fellow like me.

Chee, chee, chee!”

Robert of Lincoln at length is made

Sober with work, and silent with care,

Off his holiday garment laid,

Half forgotten that merry air:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

Nobody knows but my mate and I,

Where our nest and our nestlings lie.

Chee, chee, chee!”

[Summer wanes]; the children are grown;

Fun and frolic no more he knows,

Robert of Lincoln’s a [humdrum crone];

Off he flies, and we sing as he goes:

“Bob-o’-link, bob-o’-link,

Spink, spank, spink;

When you can [pipe that merry old strain],

Robert of Lincoln, come back again.

Chee, chee, chee!”

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was the first great American poet. He was reared among the rugged Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Outside the district school, he had little teaching except that given by his mother and what he gave himself through the excellent library of his father, who was a country physician. He grew up in close touch with nature and the simple farm surroundings, and this lonely life may have tended to make him rather more serious and thoughtful than most boys of his age. By the time he was nine years old he was putting his thoughts into verse in the stately fashion of the English poets of that time. In 1811, when yet scarcely eighteen, he wrote “Thanatopsis,” now one of the world’s classics.

By this time he had studied two years at a private school and seven months at Williams College. He was ambitious to continue his studies at Yale, but his father’s circumstances compelled him to give up that hope and to face the immediate problem of earning his own living. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1815. After a few years he went to New York, where in 1825 he became editor of the Evening Post—a position which he continued to fill with distinction for more than half a century, until his death in 1878.

And yet this busy editor of a great city newspaper found leisure from time to time to cultivate his love for verse and to continue to write poetry. His poems were popular with Americans because he chose for the most part American subjects taken from his own immediate surroundings and experience—the scenes and impressions of his boyhood, the flowers, the birds, the hills, the climate of his own New England.

America’s first men of letters whose writings proved that the new republic could produce a literature worthy to be compared with that of the mother country were James Fenimore Cooper, writer of Indian tales; Washington Irving, writer of legends about America and the sketches about our old English home; and William Cullen Bryant. Cooper showed the strangeness and romance of frontier life. Irving tried to give to America the romantic background that the new country lacked. Bryant opened men’s eyes to the beauty of nature.

Though Bryant was eleven years younger than Irving, his “Thanatopsis” was written only two years after Irving’s “Knickerbocker.”

Note. The bobolink is an American song bird. In the spring the male is mostly black and white, while the female is streaked with yellowish brown. In midsummer the male bobolink molts, taking on “plain brown” plumage like that of his “Quaker wife.” In the spring he regains his black and buff colors without molting any feathers. He sings only in the spring. The bobolink makes long migrations extending from Canada to Paraguay, and in the late autumn collects in large flocks which feed in the rice fields of the South, where he is known as the ricebird, or reedbird.

Discussion. 1. Read the lines that imitate the song of the bobolink. 2. Describe the dress of Robert of Lincoln and that of his “Quaker wife.” 3. How does her song differ from his? 4. What are the work and the care that make him silent? 5. How does the poet account for the change in his appearance as the season advances? 6. Where does he go for winter? When will he come again?

Phrases

THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT

HENRY VAN DYKE

From Poems of Henry van Dyke; copyright 1897, 1911, by Charles Scribner’s Sons. By permission of the publishers.

While [May bedecks the naked trees]

With tassels and embroideries,

And many blue-eyed violets beam

Along the edges of the stream,

I hear a voice that seems to say,

Now near at hand, now far away,

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

An [incantation so serene],

So innocent, [befits the scene]:

There’s magic in that small bird’s note—

See, there he flits—the Yellow-Throat;

A [living sunbeam], tipped with wings,

A spark of light that shines and sings

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

[You prophet] with a pleasant name,

If out of Mary-land you came,

You know the way that thither goes

Where Mary’s lovely garden grows;

Fly swiftly back to her, I pray,

And try to call her down this way,

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

Tell her to leave her cockle-shells,

And all her little silver bells

That [blossom into melody],

And all her maids less fair than she.

She does not need these pretty things,

For everywhere she comes, she brings

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

[The woods are greening] overhead,

And flowers adorn each mossy bed;

The waters babble as they run—

One thing is lacking, only one:

If Mary were but here today,

I would believe your [charming lay],

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

Along the shady road I look—

Who’s coming now across the brook?

A woodland maid, all robed in white—

The leaves dance round her with delight,

The stream laughs out beneath her feet—,

Sing, merry bird, the charm’s complete,

“Witchery—witchery—witchery!”

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Henry van Dyke (1852-⸺) was born in Germantown, which is now a part of the city of Philadelphia. When a small boy, his parents moved to Brooklyn. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1873 and from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1877. For several years he was pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City. Later he was made professor of English Literature at Princeton University, which position he still holds. In 1913 Dr. van Dyke was appointed United States Minister to Holland, where he lived during the early years of the World War. He has written many stories and poems of great literary charm.

Discussion. 1. What bird does the poet celebrate in this poem? 2. What pictures does the first stanza give you? 3. What does the Yellow-Throat seem to say? 4. Make a list of all the names by which the poet speaks of the bird. 5. What fancy does the poet express in the third and fourth stanzas? 6. What does the poet say is wanting to make the day’s charm complete? 7. Which stanza do you like best? 8. What is the name of the “woodland maid”?

Phrases

THE BELFRY PIGEON

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS

On the cross-beam under the Old South bell,

The nest of a pigeon is builded well.

In summer and winter, that bird is there,

Out and in with the morning air.

I love to see him [track the street]

With his [wary eye] and active feet;

And I often watch him, as he springs,

Circling the steeple with [easy wings],

Till across the dial his shade has passed,

And the belfry edge is gained at last.

’Tis a bird I love, with its brooding note,

And the trembling throb in its mottled throat;

There’s a human look in its swelling breast,

And the gentle curve of its lowly crest;

And I often stop with the fear I feel,

He runs so close to the rapid wheel.

Whatever is rung on that noisy bell,

Chime of the hour, or funeral knell,

The dove in the belfry must hear it well.

When the tongue swings out to the midnight moon,

When the sexton cheerily rings for noon,

When the clock strikes clear at morning light,

When the child is waked with “[nine at night],”

When the chimes play soft in the Sabbath air,

Filling the spirit with tones of prayer,

Whatever tale in the bell is heard,

He broods on his folded feet unstirred,

Or, rising half in his rounded nest,

He takes the time to smooth his breast;

Then drops again, with [filméd eyes],

And sleeps as the last vibration dies.

Sweet bird! I would that I could be

A [hermit in the crowd], like thee!

With wings to fly to wood and glen,

[Thy lot, like mine, is cast with men];

And, daily, [with unwilling feet],

I tread, like thee, the crowded street;

But, unlike me, when day is o’er,

Thou canst [dismiss the world], and soar;

Or, at a [half-felt wish for rest],

Canst smooth the feathers on thy breast,

And drop, forgetful, to thy nest.

I would that, on such wings of gold,

I could my [weary heart upfold];

I would I could look down unmoved

(Unloving as I am unloved),

And while the [world throngs on beneath],

Smooth down my cares and calmly breathe;

And, never sad with others’ sadness,

And never glad with others’ gladness,

Listen, unstirred, to knell or chime,

And, [lapped in quiet], [bide my time].

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biographical and Historical Note. Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867) was a native of Portland, Maine, and a graduate of Yale College. He was born one year earlier than Longfellow, and lived most of his life in New York City, being one of a small group of writers known as “The Knickerbockers,” who for many years made New York the literary center of the country. His father, the Rev. Nathaniel Willis, established in Boston The Youth’s Companion.

“Old South” is the name of a church in Boston, in which public meetings were held at the time of the Revolutionary War. It is now used as a museum of historic collections.

Discussion. 1. What do the first two stanzas tell you about the bird? 2. Name the various sounds of the bell that the poet mentions. 3. What comparison is found in the fifth stanza? 4. Compare the last stanza of “The Sandpiper” with the last stanza of this poem and tell which you like the better. 5. Can you give a reason why the pigeon is made the hero of this poem?

Phrases

THE SANDPIPER

CELIA THAXTER

Across the lonely beach we flit,

One little sandpiper and I;

And fast I gather, bit by bit,

The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.

The wild waves reach their hands for it,

The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,

As up and down the beach we flit,

One little sandpiper and I.

Above our heads the sullen clouds

Scud, black and swift, across the sky;

Like [silent ghosts in misty shrouds]

Stand out the white lighthouses high.

Almost as far as eye can reach

I see the [close-reefed vessels] fly,

As fast we flit along the beach,

One little sandpiper and I.

I watch him as he skims along,

Uttering his sweet and mournful cry:

He starts not at [my fitful song],

Nor [flash of fluttering drapery].

He has no thought of any wrong,

He scans me with a fearless eye;

Stanch friends are we, well tried and strong,

The little sandpiper and I.

Comrade, where wilt thou be tonight,

When the [loosed storm breaks furiously]?

My driftwood fire will burn so bright!

To what warm shelter canst thou fly?

I do not fear for thee, though [wroth]

[The tempest rushes] through the sky;

For are we not God’s children both,

Thou, little sandpiper, and I?

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Celia Thaxter (1835-1894), whose father was a lighthouse keeper on White Island, one of the rocky isles known as the “Isles of Shoals,” off the coast of New Hampshire, had the ocean for her companion in her early years. She studied the sunrise and the sunset, the wild flowers, the birds, the rocks, and all sea life. This selection shows how intimate was her friendship with the bird life of the ocean.

Discussion. 1. The poet and the sandpiper were comrades; in the first stanza, what tells you this? 2. Which lines give you a picture that might be used to illustrate this poem? 3. What common experiences did the poet and the bird have? 4. Give a quotation from the poem that describes the sandpiper and his habits. 5. What effect have the repetitions of the second line of the poem at the end of the first and second stanzas and the variations of it at the end of the third and fourth stanzas? 6. Which lines express confidence in God’s care for His children? 7. What classes of “God’s children” do “little sandpiper” and “I,” respectively, represent? 8. Pronounce the following: stanch; loosed; wroth.

Phrases

THE THROSTLE

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

“Summer is coming, summer is coming,

I know it, I know it, I know it.

Light again, leaf again, life again, love again!”

Yes, my [wild little Poet].

Sing the new year in under the blue.

Last year you sang it as gladly.

“New, new, new, new!” Is it then so new

That you should [carol so madly]?

“Love again, song again, nest again, young again!”

[Never a prophet so crazy!]

And hardly a daisy as yet, little friend,

See, there is hardly a daisy.

“Here again, here, here, here, happy year!”

O warble unchidden, unbidden!

Summer is coming, is coming, my dear,

And all the [winters are hidden].

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) was poet laureate of England, succeeding Wordsworth. This means that he was appointed to write poems about matters of national interest, such as his ode on the death of the Duke of Wellington; and that he also expressed something of the national spirit of England, as in his poems about King Arthur (The Idylls of the King) and in many poems about his native land. He was born in Lincolnshire and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. He lived a quiet life and devoted himself to poetry, in which he excelled in beauty of expression and choice of words. You will learn to know him as a teller of tales in verse, these tales being both modern ballads and romances about King Arthur; as a writer of many lovely song-poems or lyrics; and as a poet of religious faith.

Note. The song-thrush, or throstle, is found in most parts of England, and is one of the finest songsters in Europe. Its note is rich and mellow. This is the bird of which Browning wrote,

“He sings each song twice over,

Lest you should think he never could recapture

The first fine careless rapture!”

Discussion. 1. Which lines in the first stanza represent the song of the bird? 2. Which line gives Tennyson’s answer to the throstle? 3. Point out the words in the poem that represent the bird’s song. 4. Which lines tell you that Tennyson did not share the little bird’s hope? 5, What do the last two lines show that the bird did for the poet?

Phrases

TO THE CUCKOO

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

O blithe newcomer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice;

O cuckoo! shall I call thee bird,

Or but a wandering voice?

While I am lying on the grass,

[Thy twofold shout] I hear;

From hill to hill it seems to pass,

[At once far off and near].

Though babbling only to the vale,

Of sunshine and of flowers,

Thou bringest unto me a [tale]

[Of visionary hours].

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!

Even yet thou art to me

No bird, but an invisible thing,

A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my schoolboy days

I listened to; that cry

Which made me look a thousand ways,

In bush, and tree, and sky.

To seek thee did I often rove

Through woods and on the green;

And thou wert still a hope, a love;

Still long’d for, never seen!

And I can listen to thee yet;

Can lie upon the plain

And listen, till I do [beget]

[That golden time again].

O blesséd bird! the earth we pace,

Again appears to be

An unsubstantial, fairy place,

That is fit home for thee!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in the beautiful Cumberland Highlands of northern England, which furnished the inspiration for most of his poetry. While still a young man, he retired to the beautiful Lake Country of northern England, where he lived a simple life. He was devoted to the cause of liberty; he was a believer in the beauty and charm of the humble life; he often wrote about peasants rather than about lords and ladies and knights of romance. His flower poems and bird poems show the simplicity and sincerity of his nature.

Note. The cuckoo is a European bird noted for its two-syllable whistle, in imitation of which it is named; also for its habit of laying eggs in the nests of other birds for them to hatch, instead of building a nest of its own.

Discussion. 1. Why does the poet call the cuckoo “a wandering voice”? 2. What other names does the poet call the cuckoo? 3. To what habit of the cuckoo does this poem call attention? 4. Why does the poet say a “fairy place” is a fit home for the cuckoo? 5. What “golden time” is mentioned?

Phrases

THE BIRDS’ ORCHESTRA

CELIA THAXTER

Bobolink shall play the violin,

Great applause to win;

Lonely, sweet, and sad, the meadow-lark

Plays the oboe. Hark!

Yellow-bird the clarionet shall play,

Blithe, and clear, and gay.

Purple-finch what instrument will suit?

He can play the flute.

Fire-winged blackbirds sound the merry fife,

[Soldiers without strife];

And the robins [wind the mellow horn]

Loudly, eve and morn.

Who shall [clash the cymbals]? Jay and crow,

That is all they know;

And, to [roll the deep melodious drum],

Lo! the bull-frogs come.

Then the splendid chorus! Who shall sing

Of so fine a thing?

Who the names of the performers call

Truly, one and all?

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 48].

Discussion. 1. What instruments compose the birds’ orchestra? 2. Why does the poet say the jay and crow are assigned to the cymbals? 3. Explain: “fire-winged” blackbirds. 4. What leads you to think that the author knew those birds intimately? 5. Do you think the chorus would be pleasing? 6. What assignments do you think are particularly apt?

Phrases