The mood of William Cullen Bryant's "To a Waterfowl" is contemplative and reverent. In the opening stanza, the speaker asks the bird where it goes at sunset. In the next, he observes that a hunter would be unable to harm it. In the third stanza, the speaker speculates on places the bird might go. In the fourth stanza, the speaker states that a "Power," presumably divine, guides the bird. The fifth stanza observes that the bird is protected and sustained on its long journey, and the sixth predicts that the bird will find a new home among its companions at the end of its journey. In the second to last stanza, the bird has disappeared from view, but the speaker knows he has learned a lasting lesson from it. The final stanza reveals the lesson: the same "Power" that guides the bird will guide him through his life as well. It is a poem about faith in God being affirmed in nature, so the mood is reflective.
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