"A Little Bird I Am" Louisa May Alcott 'A little bird I am, Shut from the fields of air, And in my cage I sit and sing To Him who placed me there: Well pleased a prisoner to be, Because, my God, it pleases Thee! 'Naught have I else to do; I sing the whole day long; And He whom most I love to please Doth listen to my song, He caught and bound my wandering wing, But still He bends to hear me sing.' | The prolific and singularly spirited Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on the 29th of November, 1832 to Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott, a pair already immersed in the transcendental movement in literature and most particularly poetry. Growing up in New England she was exposed to the education of such widely acclaimed intellectuals as writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller and Nathaniel Hawthorne, as well as Naturalist, Henry David Thoreau. Although, Alcott’s main teacher was her father, who taught her the majority of her morals and principles and believed in the "the sweetness of self-denial". Despite, the quality of her company, the main catalyzer of Louisa May Alcott’s writing was her family’s financial hardships, which had her working from a young age, she describes her younger years as "plain living and high thinking". It wasn’t until the 1860’s that she began to receive critical acclaim for her writing, but from then on she was an instant success and the publications of Little Women(1868), and its sequels Little Men(1871) and Jo’s Boys(1886) becoming notably prosperous. Many of Alcott’s early publications, including works for young adults, were under the androgynous pen-name A. M. Barnard. Much of Louisa May Alcott’s success can be attributed to her blunt and sincere depiction of family life and the plight of a woman during the 1800’s. A multitude of her pieces were based on her own personal experiences from her childhood among three sisters in New England to her work as seamstress, governess, teacher, domestic helper and writer in turn. Elements from all of these realities inspired her novel, Little Women, which was very well received from its publication to its popularity among children’s fiction today. There is wonderful strength and originality to Alcott’s writing all of which is inspired by her opinions as an Abolitionist and Feminist, and throughout her life she was never married, dying unwed in 1888 on March 6 in Boston, Massachusetts. Upon her demise Henry James called her “The novelist of children … the Thackery, the Trollope of the nursery and the schoolroom.” Renowned as a master of literature for not just youth but anyone who places value in unequivocal and honest, Louisa May Alcott has proved to herself to be a brilliantly bold and brazen author capable of both charming and compelling literature. |
The format of Louisa May Alcott’s “A Little Bird I Am” is seemingly simple and highly traditional but just as it has satirical edge in it’s voice and theme, there is rebellious tonality in the arrangement of its syllables. The poem’s organization is similar in feel to that of a sonnet but with only twelve lines, it is not quite long enough to qualify, this particular poem is composed of two sestet stanzas(six poetic lines). Each sestets is of a plain compound structure with first a quatrain with a classic ABCB rhyme scheme and then a couplet with basic AA rhyme scheme, this pattern akin to the rest of the poem is deceptively elementary. The poem’s iambic meter shifts between extended pentameter( lines of six iambic syllables as opposed to five) and tetrameter(eight syllables), classic and smooth, it flows as six, six eight, six, eight, eight in both sestets successively. Surprising however, in the second stanza in the second to last line there are nine syllables as opposed to the traditional eight, this draws indirect emphasis to this line’s sound, giving this line a slightly more punctual edge. Louisa May Alcott intentionally downplays her poetry, over simplifying it and constructing something subtle yet sassy. Underneath it’s nursery rhyme cadenced surface “A Little Bird I Am” is darkly mocking and smoothly clever, and the modesty of her composition only adds to the genius of the piece which is astutely downplayed with sophistication.
The theme of “A Little Bird I Am” is not immediately discernible, nonetheless it is directly under the reader’s nose. “A little bird I am,” introduces the composition’s speaker as soft and fragile, definitively feminine and lovely, a simple metaphor. “Shut from fields of air,” describes the speaker’s imprisonment from the skies, with more delightful analogies, “fields” symbolizing wide, open expanses. “And in my cage I sit and sing” asserts the speaker’s confinement and establishes the speaker’s actions as an affable entertainer. This polite song is directed “To Him who placed me there:” a second character established vaguely yet firmly as capitalized masculine pronoun. Yet, our speaker claims she is “Well pleased a prisoner to be,” suddenly the tone of the poems changes from polite and eager to please to sarcastic, and this derision is explained “Because, my God, it pleases Thee!” as though our speaker lives in sick admiration of her capture and her’s life’s only joy is to gratify he who imprisoned her. Louisa May Alcott implies that her capture is hopelessly ignorant to think that some one he has placed behind bars would spring into eager song solely to amuse him. The second sestet begins with a clear expression of boredom and discontent, “Naught have I else to do;” followed by “I sing the whole day long;” as the speaker clarifies that she sings not for her captor but for her own amusement just as a apprehended artist would continue her art behind bars, the single joy she has been left with. The next line witnesses the return of the ironic admiration in “And He whom I love to please” yet there is a subtle, almost disgusted triumph in the next phrase, “Doth listen to my song,”. This poor lass’s “captor” listens to her under the impression that her beautiful song is for his pleasure, and “He [who] caught and bound my wandering wing,” a figure with total physical power over her, who in complete selfish action has taken her liberty in exchange for his own selfish, domestic contentment. “But still He bends to hear me sing” gives our speaker the possession of a small victory, her detainer will soften and submit in order to play audience to her voice, which now it seems may be a metaphor simply for indulging him. This poem is an interesting work which I believe to explore the Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy as well as having positive feelings toward their captors. Louisa May Alcott uses mockery, and the speaker’s voice which is transparently sarcastic and feels no such affinity with her impounder and whose sole grand achievement is her ability to subdue him with her unique talents, despite the fact that his has asserted and flaunts his control over her. Through this translation the poem looses much of it’s light-hearted feel and becomes slightly nauseating, as though this is a women who in her bondage to this men feels trapped whether by guilt, love or duty it is never made clear. This male figure however shows her position, no empathy or understanding, openly viewing her as a mere helpless aesthetic, and expecting her to willing perform for his own egotistical entertainment. Yet, our speaker has discovered that she can turn this to her own advantage.
Though, it loses much of gentile charm in interpretation, “A Little Bird I Am” has a dark pride and humour in its verbal irony and sly wit. Arranged in a dainty and ordered structure with traditional verse forms and rhyme scheme. Flowing with a quiet and compliant eloquence, spiked with a hint of cheek and canny language use. Louisa May Alcott has composed a poem that stands alone in it’s underhanded badinage, it’s grim themes kept afloat by the levity of it’s language. Figurative language in the form of metaphors and nursery rhyme-esque imagery assist in the creation of a elementary poem with ominous undertones. Although, it is doubtful that comforting or delightful will ever be used in the description of “A Little Bird I Am” and the poem carries none of the kinship and love of her iconic “Little Women,” this poem was an allure all its own in it’s tenacious and adroit wit.