“Stormcock in Elder” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Stormcock in Elder”

“Stormcock in Elder” Summary

“Stormcock in Elder” Themes

• 

  The Splendor of Nature

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 7-36
• 

  Religion and Spirituality

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-12
  • Lines 15-23
  • Lines 25-32
  • Lines 37-42
• 

  Resilience and Optimism

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-6
  • Lines 8-12
  • Lines 14-15
  • Line 17
  • Lines 19-22
  • Lines 25-28
  • Lines 31-42

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Stormcock in Elder”

• Lines 1-6

  In my dark ...
  ... celestial food instead:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-12

  For suddenly close ...
  ... his singing glorified.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-18

  Scarcely an arm’s-length ...
  ... pointed tongue inside;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-24

  The large eye, ...
  ... roof I saw;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-30

  The flight-feathers in ...
  ... a brindled flower.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 31-36

  Soldier of fortune, ...
  ... at a feast.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 37-42

  One-half the world, ...
  ... by broken tile.

  

  

  

  

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“Stormcock in Elder” Symbols

• 

  The Hermitage

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-6: “In my dark hermitage, aloof / From the world’s sight and the world’s sound, / By the small door where the old roof / Hangs but five feet above the ground, / I groped along the shelf for bread / But found celestial food instead:”
  • Lines 11-12: “through the broken roof I spied / Him by his singing glorified.”
• 

  The Stormcock

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 6-12
  • Lines 14-23
  • Lines 25-36
  • Lines 39-42
• 

  The Elder-Spray

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 21: “elder-spray”
  • Line 42: “ elder-spray”

“Stormcock in Elder” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “world’s ,” “sight ,” “world’s ,” “sound”
  • Line 3: “small”
  • Line 4: “five feet,” “ground”
  • Line 5: “groped ,” “for ,” “bread”
  • Line 6: “But,” “found ,” “food ”
  • Line 7: “close ”
  • Line 8: “Loud, loud,” “wild,” “wintry ”
  • Line 9: “chorister”
  • Line 10: “Burst,” “pride ,” “poetry”
  • Line 11: “broken,” “spied”
  • Line 12: “singing”
  • Line 14: “there”
  • Line 15: “The throbbing throat that,” “the ”
  • Line 17: “polished ”
  • Line 18: “pointed ”
  • Line 19: “ringed ,” “ray”
  • Line 20: “feathers, finely”
  • Line 21: “feet ,” “spray”
  • Line 22: “strongly ,” “subtly ”
  • Line 23: “scale,” “sinew”
  • Line 24: “saw”
  • Line 25: “flight-feathers,” “wing”
  • Line 26: “white”
  • Line 27: “Merged ,” “marrying”
  • Line 28: “bright breast,” “pinions,” “bright”
  • Line 29: “sequins,” “spots ”
  • Line 30: “silver,” “brindled ”
  • Line 32: “braggart,” “blow”
  • Line 33: “But,” “bagpipes ”
  • Line 34: “brave ”
  • Line 35: “Full-fed,” “February”
  • Line 36: “feast”
  • Line 37: “so ,” “say”
  • Line 38: “how half”
  • Line 39: “So,” “sing ,” “song ”
  • Line 40: “still”
  • Line 41: “bright ,” “smile”
  • Line 42: “spray,” “broken ”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Line 30: “like a brindled flower”
  • Line 31: “northwest Jack”
  • Line 41: “bright as Gabriel”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “but,” “above”
  • Line 5: “shelf,” “bread”
  • Line 6: “celestial,” “instead”
  • Line 8: “with wintry glee”
  • Line 11: “through,” “roof,” “I spied”
  • Line 12: “Him by his singing glorified”
  • Line 13: “Scarcely an,” “eye”
  • Line 14: “Myself,” “I”
  • Line 17: “polished bill,” “opened”
  • Line 18: “showed”
  • Line 19: “ray”
  • Line 20: “laid”
  • Line 21: “spray”
  • Line 22: “made”
  • Line 23: “scale,” “sinew”
  • Line 24: “through,” “roof”
  • Line 26: “shorter coverts”
  • Line 28: “pinions”
  • Line 29: “sequins”
  • Line 30: “silver,” “brindled”
  • Line 31: “fortune,” “northwest”
  • Line 35: “fed,” “February,” “dressed”
  • Line 37: “so,” “say”
  • Line 38: “Knows,” “may”
  • Line 39: “So,” “go,” “way”
  • Line 40: “still in,” “contrive”
  • Line 41: “bright,” “Gabriel,” “smile”
  • Line 42: “spray,” “tile”

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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  Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

  • Lines 31-36: “Soldier of fortune, northwest Jack, / Old hard-times’ braggart, there you blow / But tell me ere your bagpipes crack / How you can make so brave a show, / Full-fed in February, and dressed / Like a rich merchant at a feast.”
  • Line 39: “So sing your song and go your way,”
  • Lines 40-42: “And still in February contrive / As bright as Gabriel to smile / On elder-spray by broken tile.”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “hermitage, aloof”
  • Line 8: “wild, with”
  • Line 14: “unseen, I”
  • Line 19: “eye, ringed”
  • Line 20: “feathers, finely”
  • Line 22: “used, how”
  • Line 26: “coverts, and”
  • Line 27: “russet, marrying”
  • Line 30: “silver, like”
  • Line 31: “fortune, northwest”
  • Line 32: “braggart, there”
  • Line 35: “February, and”
  • Line 37: “world, or”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “dark”
  • Line 2: “world’s ,” “sight ,” “world’s ,” “sound”
  • Line 3: “small,” “door ,” “old ,” “roof”
  • Line 4: “five feet,” “ground”
  • Line 5: “groped,” “bread”
  • Line 6: “But ,” “found ,” “celestial,” “food ,” “instead”
  • Line 7: “suddenly ,” “close”
  • Line 8: “Loud, loud,” “wild,” “with wintry glee”
  • Line 9: “old ,” “unfailing,” “chorister”
  • Line 10: “Burst ,” “out ,” “pride ,” “poetry”
  • Line 11: “broken roof,” “spied”
  • Line 12: “singing,” “glorified”
  • Line 13: “Scarcely ”
  • Line 14: “Myself,” “unseen,” “saw”
  • Line 15: “The throbbing throat that,” “made ,” “the”
  • Line 16: “breast,” “from,” “misty”
  • Line 17: “polished ,” “opened,” “wide”
  • Line 18: “showed ,” “pointed ,” “tongue,” “inside”
  • Line 19: “ringed,” “many ,” “ray”
  • Line 20: “minion ,” “feathers,” “finely,” “laid”
  • Line 21: “The feet that ,” “grasped ,” “elder,” “spray”
  • Line 22: “strongly,” “subtly,” “made”
  • Line 23: “scale,” “sinew,” “claw”
  • Line 24: “Plain,” “broken,” “saw”
  • Line 25: “flight,” “feathers,” “tail,” “wing”
  • Line 26: “shorter ,” “coverts,” “white”
  • Line 27: “Merged,” “russet,” “marrying”
  • Line 28: “bright breast,” “pinions ,” “bright”
  • Line 29: “Gold ,” “sequins,” “spots ,” “chestnut,” “shower”
  • Line 30: “silver,” “like,” “brindled,” “flower”
  • Line 31: “Soldier ,” “Jack”
  • Line 32: “Old,” “hard,” “times,” “braggart,” “blow”
  • Line 33: “But,” “bagpipes ,” “crack”
  • Line 34: “can,” “make ,” “brave”
  • Line 35: “Full,” “fed ,” “February,” “dressed”
  • Line 36: “rich,” “merchant ,” “feast”
  • Line 37: “so,” “say”
  • Line 38: “Knows not how half”
  • Line 39: “So sing,” “song ”
  • Line 40: “still,” “February”
  • Line 41: “bright,” “Gabriel ,” “smile”
  • Line 42: “elder,” “spray,” “by broken tile”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “aloof / From”
  • Lines 3-4: “roof / Hangs”
  • Lines 5-6: “bread / But”
  • Lines 9-10: “chorister / Burst”
  • Lines 11-12: “spied / Him”
  • Lines 17-18: “wide / And”
  • Lines 19-20: “ray / Of”
  • Lines 22-23: “made / The”
  • Lines 26-27: “white / Merged”
  • Lines 27-28: “marrying / The”
  • Lines 29-30: “shower / Of”
  • Lines 32-33: “blow / But”
  • Lines 33-34: “crack / How”
  • Lines 35-36: “dressed / Like”
  • Lines 40-41: “contrive / As”
  • Lines 41-42: “smile / On”

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 6-42

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2
  • Lines 3-4
  • Line 5
  • Lines 7-8
  • Lines 9-10
  • Lines 11-12
  • Lines 13-14
  • Lines 15-18
  • Lines 19-30
  • Lines 32-36
  • Lines 39-42

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Lines 8-12: “Loud, loud and wild, with wintry glee, / The old unfailing chorister / Burst out in pride of poetry; / And through the broken roof I spied / Him by his singing glorified.”
  • Line 14: “I saw him there;”
  • Lines 22-23: “How strongly used, how subtly made / The scale, the sinew, and the claw,”
  • Lines 31-36: “Soldier of fortune, northwest Jack, / Old hard-times’ braggart, there you blow / But tell me ere your bagpipes crack / How you can make so brave a show, / Full-fed in February, and dressed / Like a rich merchant at a feast.”
  • Lines 39-42: “So sing your song and go your way, / And still in February contrive / As bright as Gabriel to smile / On elder-spray by broken tile.”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 15-17: “The throbbing throat that made the cry, / The breast dewed from the misty air, / The polished bill that opened wide”
  • Line 22: “How strongly used, how subtly made”
  • Lines 29-30: “Gold sequins, spots of chestnut, shower / Of silver”
  • Lines 31-32: “Soldier of fortune, northwest Jack, / Old hard-times’ braggart, there you blow”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “the old roof”
  • Line 8: “Loud, loud”
  • Line 11: “through the broken roof I spied”
  • Line 15: “The throbbing throat”
  • Line 16: “The breast ”
  • Line 17: “The polished bill”
  • Line 19: “The large eye”
  • Line 21: “The feet ”
  • Line 22: “How strongly used, how subtly made”
  • Line 23: “The scale, the sinew, and the claw”
  • Line 24: “through the broken roof I saw”
  • Line 25: “The flight-feathers”
  • Line 26: “The shorter coverts, and the white”
  • Line 28: “bright breast,” “bright”
  • Line 33: “ere your bagpipes crack”
  • Line 37: “One-half the world”
  • Line 38: “half the world”
  • Line 39: “sing your song”
  • Line 41: “bright ”
  • Line 42: “broken ”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Line 30: “like a brindled flower.”
  • Lines 35-36: “dressed / Like a rich merchant at a feast.”
  • Line 41: “bright as Gabriel”

“Stormcock in Elder” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Hermitage
• Aloof
• Groped
• Celestial
• Chorister
• Throbbing
• Breast
• Dewed
• Minion
• Elder-spray
• Sinew
• Coverts
• Russet
• Pinions
• Brindled
• Northwest Jack
• Braggart
• Ere
• Contrive
• Gabriel

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “hermitage”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Stormcock in Elder”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Stormcock in Elder” Speaker

“Stormcock in Elder” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Stormcock in Elder”

More “Stormcock in Elder” Resources

• External Resources

  • Ruth Pitter's Life Story — An overview of Ruth Pitter's biography at the "Women in World History" encyclopedia.

  • The Ruth Pitter Project — A website dedicated to Ruth Pitter by literary scholar and Pitter expert Don W. King.

  • "Stormcock in Elder" Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Stormcock in Elder" by an English teacher.

  • The Stormcock — More about the stormcock bird, a.k.a. the mistle thrush.

  • Ruth Pitter and C.S. Lewis — More on the relationship between Ruth Pitter and writer C.S. Lewis.