Kidnaped
I held my heart so far from harm,I let it wander far and freeIn mead and mart, without alarm,Assured it must come back to me.
And all went well till on a day,Learned Dr. Cupid wandered byA search along our sylvan wayFor some peculiar butterfly.
A flash of wings, a hurried dive,A flutter and a short-lived flit;This Scientist, as I am aliveHad seen my heart and captured it.
Right tightly now 'tis held amongThe specimens that he has trapped,And sings (Oh, love is ever young),'Tis passing sweet to be kidnaped.
Words in this poem
- mart v. t.
- To buy or sell in, or as in, a mart.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
- scientist n.
- One learned in science; a scientific investigator; one devoted to scientific study; a savant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Kidnaped is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Kidnaped, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/kidnaped.html, id L00846.
Form and metre
Kidnaped is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% 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 ABAB harmA · freeB · alarmA · meB
- 2 ABAB dayA · byB · wayA · butterflyB
- 3 ABAB diveA · flitB · aliveA · itB
- 4 ABAB amongA · trappedB · youngA · kidnapedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I held my heart so far from harm, | 8 | ········ |
| I let it wander far and free | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In mead and mart, without alarm, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Assured it must come back to me. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And all went well till on a day, | 8 | ········ |
| Learned Dr. Cupid wandered by | 8 | ·˘·/˘/˘· |
| A search along our sylvan way | 8 | ··˘///˘· |
| For some peculiar butterfly. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| A flash of wings, a hurried dive, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A flutter and a short-lived flit; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| This Scientist, as I am alive | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Had seen my heart and captured it. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Right tightly now 'tis held among | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The specimens that he has trapped, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And sings (Oh, love is ever young), | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| 'Tis passing sweet to be kidnaped. | 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.