Student Question
What were the bird and speaker singing about in James Stephens' "The Rivals"?
Quick answer:
In "The Rivals," both the bird and the speaker sing about the same subjects: the dew on the lawn and the wind on the lea. However, the speaker is not attentive to the bird's song, partly because the bird isn't singing to him and also because he is preoccupied with his own singing. Despite this, the speaker claims his song is "just as prettily" as the bird's.
In the poem "The Rivals" by James Stephens, a bird at dawn is singing sweetly in a tree about the dew on the lawn and the wind on the lea. But the speaker's not listening to the bird, because the bird isn't singing to him. At the same time, the speaker's also singing, which would make it difficult for him to listen to the bird even if the bird actually were singing to him. And what is the speaker singing about that prevents him from listening to the bird at dawn singing sweetly in a tree about the dew on the lawn and the wind on the lea? Why, the exact same thing as the bird! And he is singing "just as prettily."
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