Help me figure out the name of this poem!

September 13, 2012 3:40 PM

My girlfriend has a favorite poem that involves a cricket (or possibly grasshopper) and a bird. I believe the bird has a red belly. Can you help me find the poem (it may also be a short story). I realize I'm being vague- sorry!
posted by razzamatazm to media & arts (9 answers total)

When the red red robin goes bob bob bobing along, along...
posted by tilde at 3:44 PM on September 13, 2012

It's an obscure bird. Definitely not a robin.
posted by razzamatazm at 3:47 PM on September 13, 2012

Is it an old fashioned sort of poem/fairy tale? This was the top result when I googled "red bird cricket poem."
posted by onlyconnect at 3:50 PM on September 13, 2012

I don't think that's it. In the poem it mentioned the bird by name.
posted by razzamatazm at 3:54 PM on September 13, 2012

The bird is a linnet - Still haven't been able to find the poem :(
posted by razzamatazm at 4:12 PM on September 13, 2012

Is it this William Butler Yeats poem?

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
posted by araisingirl at 4:19 PM on September 13, 2012 [8 favorites]

Lake Isle of Innisfree by Yeats includes the stanza:

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

The wikipedia page for linnet features a few other cultural references, is it any of those?
posted by Wretch729 at 4:20 PM on September 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think we have a winner!

Thanks all!
posted by razzamatazm at 4:34 PM on September 13, 2012

Jon Carroll has interesting associations with this poem.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:46 PM on September 13, 2012 [2 favorites]