The Sparrow And The Hen Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLK M N OPQ| A sparrow when sparrows like parrots could speak | A |
| Addressed an old hen who could talk like a jay | B |
| Said he 'It's unjust that we sparrows must seek | A |
| Our food when your family's fed every day | B |
| - | |
| 'Were you like the peacock that elegant bird | C |
| The sight of whose plumage her master may please | D |
| I then should not wonder that you are preferred | C |
| To the yard where in affluence you live at your ease | D |
| - | |
| 'I affect no great style am not costly in feathers | E |
| A good honest brown I find most to my liking | F |
| It always looks neat and is fit for all weathers | E |
| But I think your grey mixture is not very striking | F |
| - | |
| 'We know that the bird from the isles of Canary | G |
| Is fed foreign airs to sing in a fine cage | H |
| But your note from a cackle so seldom does vary | G |
| The fancy of man it cannot much engage | H |
| - | |
| 'My chirp to a song sure approaches much nearer | I |
| Nay the nightingale tells me I sing not amiss | J |
| If voice were in question I ought to be dearer | I |
| But the owl he assures me there's nothing in this | J |
| - | |
| 'Nor is it your proneness to domestication | K |
| For he dwells in man's barn and I build in man's thatch | L |
| As we say to each other but to our vexation | K |
| O'er your safety alone man keeps diligent watch ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Have you e'er learned to read ' said the hen to the sparrow | M |
| 'No madam ' he answered 'I can't say I have ' | - |
| 'Then that is the reason your sight is so narrow ' | - |
| The old hen replied with a look very grave | N |
| - | |
| 'Mrs Glasse in a Treatise I wish you could read | O |
| Our importance has shown and has proved to us why | P |
| Man shields us and feeds us of us he has need | Q |
| Even before we are born even after we die ' | - |
Charles Lamb
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Sparrow And The Hen
The Sparrow And The Hen is a poem by Charles Lamb. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Sparrow And The Hen poem by Charles Lamb
Best Poems of Charles Lamb