The Indigo Bird

When I see, High on the tip-top twig of a tree, Something blue by the breezes stirred, But so far up that the blue is blurred, So far up no green leaf flies.5 Twixt its blue and the blue of the skies, Then I know, ere a note be heard, That is naught but the Indigo bird.
Blue on the branch and blue in the sky, And naught between but the breezes high,10 And naught so blue by the breezes stirred As the deep, deep blue of the Indigo bird.
When I hear A song like a bird laugh, blithe and clear, As though of some airy jest he had heard15 The last and the most delightful word, A laugh as fresh in the August haze As it was in the full-voiced April days, Then I know that my heart is stirred By the laugh-like song of the Indigo bird.20
Joy in the branch and joy in the sky, And naught between but the breezes high; And naught so glad on the breezes heard As the gay, gay note of the Indigo bird.

—Ethelwyn Wetherald (By permission)

Preparatory.—Suggest a picture which would serve as an illustration for this poem.

How does the Imaging affect the Pitch in the first two stanzas?

What feelings does the poem arouse? Where do these feelings reach a Climax? What is the effect on the Pitch?

What other Climax is found in the poem besides the Climax of feeling?

FAR, LAUGH, BRANCH, GLAD. (Appendix A, 1.)

BREEZES STIRRED. (Appendix A, 6.)

What is the Inflection on ll. 1-6 of stanza i and iii? (Introduction, p. .) How does the Pitch of these lines differ from that of ll. 7 and 8 of these stanzas? Account for the change. (Introduction, p. .)

What are the contrasting words in l. 6, stanza i?

Note the Grouping and Pause in ll. 3 and 4, stanza iii.