The Captive Dove
Poor restless dove, I pity thee;And when I hear thy plaintive moan,I mourn for thy captivity,And in thy woes forget mine own.
To see thee stand prepared to fly,And flap those useless wings of thine,And gaze into the distant sky,Would melt a harder heart than mine.
In vain--in vain! Thou canst not rise:Thy prison roof confines thee there;Its slender wires delude thine eyes,And quench thy longings with despair.
Oh, thou wert made to wander freeIn sunny mead and shady grove,And far beyond the rolling sea,In distant climes, at will to rove!
Yet, hadst thou but one gentle mateThy little drooping heart to cheer,And share with thee thy captive state,Thou couldst be happy even there.
Yes, even there, if, listening by,One faithful dear companion stood,While gazing on her full bright eye,Thou mightst forget thy native wood
But thou, poor solitary dove,Must make, unheard, thy joyless moan;The heart that Nature formed to loveMust pine, neglected, and alone.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- joyless a.
- Not having joy; not causing joy; unenjoyable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Captive Dove is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Project Gutenberg ebook #1019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, The Captive Dove, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/the-captive-dove.html, id L13269.
Form and metre
The Captive Dove is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A thee · moanA · captivity · ownA
- 2 ABAB flyA · thineB · skyA · mineB
- 3 ABAB riseA · thereB · eyesA · despairB
- 4 ABAB freeA · groveB · seaA · roveB
- 5 ABAB mateA · cheerB · stateA · thereB
- 6 ABAB byA · stoodB · eyeA · woodB
- 7 ABAB doveA · moanB · loveA · aloneB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Poor restless dove, I pity thee; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And when I hear thy plaintive moan, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I mourn for thy captivity, | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| And in thy woes forget mine own. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| To see thee stand prepared to fly, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And flap those useless wings of thine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And gaze into the distant sky, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Would melt a harder heart than mine. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In vain--in vain! Thou canst not rise: | 8 | ········ |
| Thy prison roof confines thee there; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Its slender wires delude thine eyes, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| And quench thy longings with despair. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Oh, thou wert made to wander free | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In sunny mead and shady grove, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And far beyond the rolling sea, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In distant climes, at will to rove! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet, hadst thou but one gentle mate | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy little drooping heart to cheer, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And share with thee thy captive state, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou couldst be happy even there. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Yes, even there, if, listening by, | 8 | ·/··/˘˘· |
| One faithful dear companion stood, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| While gazing on her full bright eye, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou mightst forget thy native wood | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| But thou, poor solitary dove, | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Must make, unheard, thy joyless moan; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The heart that Nature formed to love | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Must pine, neglected, and alone. | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.