[Couplet about Birds]
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[Couplet about Birds]
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Metrical foot type: iambic (-+)
Metrical foot number: pentameter (5 feet)
Rhyme scheme: aa
Rhyme (stanza position): pair (aabb)
Syllable pattern: 10
Stanza: couplet (2 lines)
Genre(s): heroic couplet
Notation symbols: | (foot boundary), || (caesura), / (metrical line boundary), + (metrically prominent), - (metrically non-prominent)
Metre: -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/ | Syllables: 10
Metre: -+|-+|-+|-+|-+/ | Syllables: 10
Expanding the poem lines () shows notes and queries taken from various critical editions of Gray's works, as well as those contributed by users of the Archive. There are 0 textual and 1 explanatory notes/queries.
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Title/Paratext] "This couplet was first published [...]" J. Bradshaw, 1891.
"This couplet was first published in Mathias' edition of Gray's Works
(1814), vol. ii., p. 596, introduced thus:—"One fine morning in the
spring Mr. Nicholls was walking in the neighbourhood of Cambridge with
Mr. Gray, who, feeling the influence of the season, and cheered with the
melody of the birds on every bough, turned round to his friend, and expressed
himself extempore in these beautiful lines." Mathias, no doubt, based his
remarks on Norton Nicholls' "Reminiscences of Gray," written in
1805, the MS. of which was in his possession,—Nicholls' reference to
them being:—"Two verses made by Mr. Gray as we were walking in the
spring in the neighbourhood of Cambridge."
Norton Nicholls' "Reminiscences" were printed by
Mitford in vol. v. of his "Works of Gray," published by Bell and
Daldy in 1843."
Works cited
- The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1891.
Spelling has been modernized throughout, except in case of conscious archaisms. Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Obvious errors have been silently corrected, punctuation has been supplied. The editor would like to express his gratitude to the library staff of the Göttingen State and University Library (SUB Göttingen) for their invaluable assistance.