Summary

The poem begins with the speaker announcing that this morning he saw a bird. He provides a series of epithets for the bird, including "morning's minion," "daylight's dauphin," and "dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon" (1-2). The bird was hovering above the ground, happily perusing the land for prey. Suddenly, the bird swooped down to catch something, hurtling through the air as it "rebuffed the big wind" (7). The speaker is in awe of this behavior, referring to the bird's movement as "mastery" (8).

In the sestet, or final six lines of the poem, the speaker describes the beauty of the bird as it lunges toward the ground. He is excited by the visual and overwhelmed by its effect on him. Finally, as the poem concludes, the speaker announces that it is "no wonder" the bird has inspired him so (12). Thinking of the bird as an element of creation, the...