High from the Earth I Heard a Bird
High from the Earth I Heard a Bird - meaning Summary
Bird as Model of Ease
The speaker watches a bird aloft that treats trees as trifles, rides a gust of wind, and sings with a mix of benediction and playful teasing. Despite being a devoted father to a dependent brood, the bird’s spontaneous flight and cheerful talk seem to cure its cares. The poem contrasts the bird’s effortless, restorative mobility with human rest, suggesting a gap between animal ease and human experience of respite.
Read Complete AnalysesHigh from the earth I heard a bird; He trod upon the trees As he esteemed them trifles, And then he spied a breeze, And situated softly Upon a pile of wind Which in a perturbation Nature had left behind. A joyous-going fellow I gathered from his talk, Which both of benediction And badinage partook, Without apparent burden, I learned, in leafy wood He was the faithful father Of a dependent brood; And this untoward transport His remedy for care, A contrast to our respites. How different we are!
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