“To a Waterfowl” Introduction

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“To a Waterfowl” Summary

“To a Waterfowl” Themes

• 

  Faith in God

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To a Waterfowl”

• Lines 1-4

  Whither, 'midst falling dew,
  While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
  Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
  Thy solitary way?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Vainly the fowler’s eye
  Might mark thy distant flight, to do thee wrong,
  As, darkly seen against the crimson sky,
  Thy figure floats along.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Seek’st thou the plashy brink
  Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
  Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
  On the chaféd ocean side?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  There is a Power, whose care
  Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,—
  The desert and illimitable air
  Lone wandering, but not lost.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  All day thy wings have fanned,
  At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere;
  Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
  Though the dark night is near.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  And soon that toil shall end,
  Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
  And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
  Soon, o’er thy sheltered nest.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
  Hath swallowed up thy form, yet, on my heart
  Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
  And shall not soon depart.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-32

  He, who, from zone to zone,
  Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
  In the long way that I must trace alone,
  Will lead my steps aright.

  

  

  

  

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“To a Waterfowl” Symbols

• 

  The Waterfowl's Journey

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• 

  The Sky

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“To a Waterfowl” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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“To a Waterfowl” 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.

• Whither
• 'Midst
• Dost
• Thou
• Thy
• Vainly
• Fowler
• Mark
• Thee
• Seek'st
• Plashy
• Brink
• Marge
• Billows
• Chaféd
• Desert
• Illimitable
• Thou'rt
• Abyss
• Hath
• Hast
• Aright

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To a Waterfowl”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“To a Waterfowl” Speaker

“To a Waterfowl” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “To a Waterfowl”

More “To a Waterfowl” Resources

• External Resources

  • Biography of William Cullen Bryant — A detailed account of Bryant's life and work, via the Poetry Foundation

  • A Brief Guide to the Fireside Poets — An overview of the Fireside Poets from the Academy of American Poets.

  • Why Animals Don't Get Lost — A New Yorker article on contemporary research into the ways birds and other animals navigate.

  • The Waterfowl — Learn more about the species of bird that the speaker addresses throughout the poem.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Cullen Bryant

  • Thanatopsis