diff --git a/lib/rackstash/message.rb b/lib/rackstash/message.rb
index 72ef1f6..8059cf4 100644
--- a/lib/rackstash/message.rb
+++ b/lib/rackstash/message.rb
@@ -29,6 +29,18 @@ module Rackstash
       @message = cleanup(message)
     end
 
+    # @return [String] the guman readable label for the {#severity}.
+    # @see {Rackstash.severity_label}
+    def severity_label
+      Rackstash.severity_label(@severity)
+    end
+
+    # @return [Integer] the character length of {#message}.
+    def length
+      @message.length
+    end
+    alias size length
+
     def to_json
       as_json.to_json
     end
diff --git a/spec/rackstash/message_spec.rb b/spec/rackstash/message_spec.rb
index 28a25da..03b9e2c 100644
--- a/spec/rackstash/message_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rackstash/message_spec.rb
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ describe Rackstash::Message do
     end
   end
 
-  describe 'progname' do
+  describe '#progname' do
     it 'dups the progname' do
       progname = 'a message'
       message = Rackstash::Message.new('', progname: progname)
@@ -122,7 +122,28 @@ describe Rackstash::Message do
     end
   end
 
-  describe 'time' do
+  describe '#length' do
+    it 'returns the size if the message' do
+      message = Rackstash::Message.new('hello world')
+      expect(message.length).to eql 11
+    end
+
+    it 'can use the #size alias' do
+      message = Rackstash::Message.new('hello world')
+      expect(message.size).to eql 11
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe '#severity_label' do
+    it 'returns the severity label' do
+      expect(Rackstash).to receive(:severity_label).exactly(3).times.and_call_original
+      expect(Rackstash::Message.new('', severity: 0).severity_label).to eql 'DEBUG'
+      expect(Rackstash::Message.new('', severity: 2).severity_label).to eql 'WARN'
+      expect(Rackstash::Message.new('', severity: 5).severity_label).to eql 'ANY'
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe '#time' do
     it 'dups the time' do
       time = Time.now
       message = Rackstash::Message.new('', time: time)