Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE TWO BLACKBIRDS, by GEORGE MEREDITH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A blackbird in a wicker cage Last Line: A self-forgetful sympathy. Subject(s): Blackbirds; Singing & Singers | ||||||||
A BLACKBIRD in a wicker cage, That hung and swung 'mid fruits and flowers, Had learnt the song-charm, to assuage The drearness of its wingless hours. And ever when the song was heard, From trees that shade the grassy plot Warbled another glossy bird, Whose mate not long ago was shot. Strange anguish in that creature's breast, Unwept like human grief, unsaid, Has quickened in its lonely nest A living impulse from the dead. Not to console its own wild smart, -- But with a kindling instinct strong, The novel feeling of its heart Beats for the captive bird of song. And when those mellow notes are still, It hops from off its choral perch, O'er path and sward, with busy bill, All grateful gifts to peck and search. Store of ouzel dainties choice To those white swinging bars it brings; And with a low consoling voice It talks between its fluttering wings. Deeply in their bitter grief Those sufferers reciprocate, The one sings for its woodland life, The other for its murdered mate. But deeper doth the secret prove, Uniting those sad creatures so; Humanity's great link of love, The common sympathy of woe. Well divined from day to day Is the swift speech between them twain; For when the bird is scared away, The captive bursts to song again. Yet daily with its flattering voice, Talking amid its fluttering wings, Store of ouzel dainties choice With busy bill the poor bird brings. And shall I say, till weak with age Down from its drowsy branch it drops, It will not leave that captive cage, Nor cease those busy searching hops? Ah, no! the moral will not strain; Another sense will make it range, Another mate will soothe its pain, Another season work a change. But thro' the live-long summer, tried, A pure devotion we may see; The ebb and flow of Nature's tide; A self-forgetful sympathy. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE APOLLO TRIO by CONRAD AIKEN BAD GIRL SINGING by MARK JARMAN CHAMBER MUSIC: 4 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 5 by JAMES JOYCE CHAMBER MUSIC: 28 by JAMES JOYCE THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE IS LIKE THE SCENT OF SYRINGA by MINA LOY DIRGE IN WOODS by GEORGE MEREDITH |
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