Stormcock in Elder By Ruth Pitter (7 November 1897-29 February 1992)
Stanza Summary
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:
For suddenly close at my ear,
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.
Scarcely an arm’s-length from the eye,
Myself unseen, I saw him there;
The throbbing throat that made the cry,
The breast dewed from the misty air,
The polished bill that opened wide
And showed the pointed tongue inside;
1|Arnav Agrawal
Language Example Effect Point of reflection
In this stanza, the poet Metaphor ll.6“found celestial food instead” this helps the reader perceive the bird By using a lot of imagery and
introduces her small the same way as the author does, it is a a metaphor, the poet has set
hideaway, and refers symbol for god and celestial` the ball rolling for her to
to the stormcock as Enjambment Throughout the stanza, the whole Long sentences are usually used for address the issue that wants
an embodiment of stanza is a single sentence describing things; in this case, Pitter is to, the setting is a spiritual
heaven describing her hideaway, which is a small place for the reader,
old place where she can be detached “Hermitage”, and it seems
from the hustle and bustle of the world. as if the reader is finding
Visual Imagery ll.1“dark hermitage” Imagery helps the reader visualize the enlightenment in even the
ll.3-4 “old roof hangs but 5 feet setting created by the poet. smallest of things, like the
above the ground” Bird that she just noticed.
In this stanza, the poet Metaphor ll.9”The old unfailing chorister” This compares the stormcock to a choir The poet refers the voice of
finally talks about the boy what they have in common is their the stormcock as “Loud and
main feature of the sweet, yet loud and untamed voice, the wild” while it is compared to
stormcock – its loud fact that he is “old and unfailing” shows an old choir boy. This stanza
and bold singing. The us that the poet is used to this voice, but also shows the fact that the
voice of the still he is unfailing poet does not want to
“chorister” is repetition ll.8”Loud, loud and wild” This helps the poet emphasize on the invade the privacy of the
unparalleled. fact that the voice of the bird is loud and bird by disturbing its order,
bold. she just wants to “spy” on
Poetic license ll.12 “Him by his singing glorified” The author uses poetic license to his glorifying singing
maintain the rhyme and rhythm of the
poem; this reflects that even the bird has
got some order in its singing, just like the
poem itself.
The poet again Imagery ll.15”throbbing throat” In this stanza, the poet
stresses on the fact ll.16”the breast dewed from the These phrases effectively use visual points out that she can see
that she does not misty air” imagery to portray the fact that the bird the bird while being
want to disrupt the ll.17”polished bill” is looking shiny due the “misty” air concealed from the bird’s
stormcock’s privacy, ll.18”pointed tongue” around the poets hermitage sight so that the bird doesn’t
just like she does not fly off. The poet also points
anyone to disrupt to the fact that this may be
hers, while she is away enjambment ll.17-18”The polished bill that The poet uses enjambment to give a an early hour of the day just
from all the hustle and opened wide continued description of how the bird after the morning mist has
bustle of the city. And showed the pointed tongue opens its mouth to sing and its tongue settled since the bird still
inside” can be seen inside. has dew on its body due to
Alliteration and ll.15”throbbing throat” An alliteration coupled with auditory the early morning mist. This
Imagery imagery produces a sound similar to the dew gives a sense of
“Throbbing” of the Stormcock’s throat. vibrancy to the bird,
enhancing its beauty.
 Stormcock in Elder By Ruth Pitter (7 November 1897-29 February 1992)
The large eye, ringed with many a ray
Of minion feathers, finely laid,
The feet that grasped the elder-spray;
How strongly used, how subtly made
The scale, the sinew, and the claw,
Plain through the broken roof I saw;
The flight-feathers in tail and wing,
The shorter coverts, and the white
Merged into russet, marrying
The bright breast to the pinions bright,
Gold sequins, spots of chestnut, shower
Of silver, like a brindled flower.
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.
One-half the world, or so they say,
Knows not how half the world may live;
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.
2|Arnav Agrawal
This stanza describes enjambment ll.19-20 Enjambment is used over here to tell us The poet continues on
the appearance of the ll.22-23 what the poet is talking about when he describing the bird as she
bird and also its writes the lines 19 and 22. He does this talks about its eyes and its
strength as it holds on by mentioning what he is describing in claws clutching on to the
to a branch of the lines 20 and 23 respectively. branch tightly. She also
Elder tree. Visual imagery Throughout the stanza Due to the use of imagery we can almost makes us visualize the bird
clearly visualize the small feathers almost as if we were in her
covering the eyes of the stormcock and place looking at the bird
the strong grasp of the bird’s claws on from below through the
the branch of the elder tree. broken roof of the
hideaway.
The poet is marveling gold sequins, spots of chestnut, by using the imagery, the
at the bird’s beauty. Imagery and some shower of silver, like a brindled this tells us about how the poetess is poem basically tells us that
The poet is describing Similes flower. appreciating the bird’s natural form and the bird is being appreciated
the appearance of the about the excitement in the poet. and being noticed and it
bird. actually is worth being
observed.
the poet is comparing similes and a bit of full fed in February, and dressed like this adds more to the part in which the The poet compares the bird
the appearance of the extended a rich merchant at a feast. poet is describing the bird but the similes to a human. This point
bird to a ceremony. metaphor also compare it to actual humans so it basically adds to the point
she also appreciates gives us an idea that the bird might have that the bird was being
the bird’s beauty and been looking like a rich merchant at a looked up to. The readers
talks about bagpipes feast. also make out that the poet
blowing (figuratively) is really excited and the bird
which is related to the is being compared to
ceremonial way of someone who is quite
appreciating the bird. relatable. for example: rich
merchants define some sort
of glory and the chivalry