Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A FABLE, by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Some cawing crows, a hooting owl Last Line: Useless and unavailing. Alternate Author Name(s): Wilson, Robert, Mrs. Subject(s): Birds; Fables; Soul; Allegories | ||||||||
Some cawing Crows, a hooting Owl, A Hawk, a Canary, an old Marsh-Fowl, One day all met together, To hold a caucus and settle the fate Of a certain bird (without a mate), A bird of another feather. "My friends," said the Owl, with a look most wise, "The Eagle is soaring too near the skies, In a way that is quite improper; Yet the world is praising her, so I'm told, And I think her actions have grown so bold That some of us ought to stop her." "I have heard it said," quoth Hawk, with a sigh, "That young lambs died at the glance of her eye. And I wholly scorn and despise her. This, and more, I am told they say -- And I think that the only proper way Is never to recognize her." "I am quite convinced," said Crow, with a caw, "That the Eagle minds no moral law, She's a most unruly creature." "She's an ugly thing," piped Canary Bird; "Some call her handsome -- it's so absurd -- She hasn't a decent feature." Then the old Marsh Hen went hopping about, She said she was sure -- she hadn't a doubt -- Of the truth of each bird's story: And she thought it a duty to stop her flight, To pull her down from her lofty height, And take the gilt from her glory. But, lo! from a peak on the mountain grand That looks out over the smiling land And over the mighty ocean, The Eagle is spreading her splendid wings -- She rises, rises, and upward swings, With a slow, majestic motion Up in the blue of God's own skies, With a cry of rapture, away she flies, Close to the Great Eternal: She sweeps the world with her piercing sight -- Her soul is filled with the infinite And the joy of things supernal. Thus rise forever the chosen of God, The genius-crowned or the power-shod. Over the dust-world sailing; And back, like splinters blown by the winds, Must fall the missiles of silly minds, Useless and unavailing. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CYMON AND IPHIGENIA by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO SIGISMONDA AND GUISCARDO by GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO THE CHARACTER OF A GOOD PARSON by GEOFFREY CHAUCER THE COCK AND THE FOX, OR THE TALE OF THE NUN'S PRIEST by GEOFFREY CHAUCER TIME, REAL AND IMAGINARY; AN ALLEGORY by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE GLADYS AND HER ISLAND; AN IMPERFECT TALE WITH DOUBTFUL MORAL by JEAN INGELOW |
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