Or, the Caged Hawk
No more, thou lithe and long-winged hawk, of desert-life for thee;No more across the sultry sands shalt thou go swooping free:Blunt idle talons, idle beak, with spurning of thy chain,Shatter against thy cage the wing thou ne'er may'st spread again.
Long, sitting by their watchfires, shall the Kabyles tell the taleOf thy dash from Ben Halifa on the fat Metidja vale;How thou swept'st the desert over, bearing down the wild El Riff,From eastern Beni Salah to western Ouad Shelif;
How thy white burnous welit streaming, like the storm-rack o'er the sea,When thou rodest in the vanward of the Moorish chivalry;How thy razzia was a whirlwind, thy onset a simoom,How thy sword-sweep was the lightning, dealing death from out the gloom!
Nor less quick to slay in battle than in peace to spare and save,Of brave men wisest councillor, of wise councillors most brave;How the eye that flashed destruction could beam gentleness and love,How lion in thee mated lamb, how eagle mated dove!
Availéd not or steel or shot 'gainst that charmed life secure,Till cunning France, in last resource, tossed up the golden lure;And the carrion buzzards round him stooped, faithless, to the cast,And the wild hawk of the desert is caught and caged at last.
Weep, maidens of Zerifah, above the laden loom!Scar, chieftains of Al Elmah, your cheeks in grief and gloom!Sons of the Beni Snazam, throw down the useless lance,And stoop your necks and bare your backs to yoke and scourge of France!
Twas not in fight they bore him down; he never cried amàn;He never sank his sword before the PRINCE OF FRANGHISTAN;But with traitors all around him, his star upon the wane,He heard the voice of ALLAH, and he would not strive in vain.
They gave him what he asked them; from king to king he spake,As one that plighted word and seal not knoweth how to break;"Let me pass from out my deserts, be't mine own choice where to go,I brook no fettered life to live, a captive and a show."
And they promised, and he trusted them, and proud and calm he came,Upon his black mare riding, girt with his sword of fame.Good steed, good sword, he rendered both unto the Frankish throng;He knew them false and fickle--but a Prince's word is strong.
How have they kept their promise? Turned they the vessel's prowUnto Acre, Alexandria, as they have sworn e'en now?Not so: from Oran northwards the white sails gleam and glance,And the wild hawk of the desert is borne away to France!
Where Toulon's white-walled lazaret looks southward o'er the wave,Sits he that trusted in the word a son of Louis gave.O noble faith of noble heart! And was the warning vain,The text writ by the BOURBON in the blurred black book of Spain?
They have need of thee to gaze on, they have need of thee to graceThe triumph of the Prince, to gild the pinchbeck of their race.Words are but wind, conditions must be construed by GUIZOT;Dash out thy heart, thou desert hawk, ere thou art made a show!
Words in this poem 23
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- burnous n.
- A cloaklike garment and hood woven in one piece, worn by Arabs. [Ar. burnus a kind of high-crowned cap: cf. F. bournous, burnous, Sp. al-bornoz, a sort of upper garment, with a hood attached.]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- vanward a.
- Being on, or towards, the van, or front.
- razzia n.
- A plundering and destructive incursion; a foray; a rai [F., fr. Ar. ghazia (pron. razia in Algeria).]
- simoom n.
- A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind, that blows occasionally in Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains. [Ar. sam, fr. samma to poison. Cf. Samiel.]
- resource n.
- That to which one resorts orr on which one depends for supply or support; means of overcoming a difficulty; resort; expedient. [F. ressource, fr. OF. ressourdre, resourdre, to spring forth or up again; pref. re- re- + sourdre to spring forth. See Source.]
- caged a.
- Confined in, or as in, a cage; like a cage or prison.
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- allah n.
- The name of the Supreme Being, in use among the Arabs and the Mohammedans generally. [contr. fr. the article al the + ilah God.]
- fettered a.
- Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- frankish a.
- Like, or pertaining to, the Franks.
- acre n.
- Any field of arable or pasture land. [OE. aker, AS. æcer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. åker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. ajra. *2, 206.]
- northwards adv.
- Toward the north, or toward a point nearer to the north than to the east or west point.
- lazaret n.
- A public building, hospital, or pesthouse for the reception of diseased persons, particularly those affected with contagious diseases. [F. lazaret, or It. lazzeretto, fr. Lazarus. See Lazar.]
- bourbon n.
- A member of a family which has occupied several European thrones, and whose descendants still claim the throne of France. [From the castle and seigniory of Bourbon in central France.]
- pinchbeck n.
- An alloy of copper and zinc, resembling gold; a yellow metal, composed of about three ounces of zinc to a pound of copper. It is much used as an imitation of gold in the manufacture of cheap jewelry. [Said to be from the name of the inventor; cf. It. prencisbecco.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Or, the Caged Hawk is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #2732; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Makepeace Thackeray, Or, the Caged Hawk, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/or-the-caged-hawk.html, id L10331.
Form and metre
Or, the Caged Hawk is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 8 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB theeA · freeA · chainB · againB
- 2 AA-- taleA · valeA · riff · shelif
- 3 --AA sea · chivalry · simoomA · gloomA
- 4 AABB saveA · braveA · loveB · doveB
- 5 AABB secureA · lureA · castB · lastB
- 6 AABB loomA · gloomA · lanceB · franceB
- 7 --AA amàn · franghistan · waneA · vainA
- 8 AABB spakeA · breakA · goB · showB
- 9 AABB cameA · fameA · throngB · strongB
- 10 AABB prowA · nowA · glanceB · franceB
- 11 AABB waveA · gaveA · vainB · spainB
- 12 AA-- graceA · raceA · guizot · show
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| No more, thou lithe and long-winged hawk, of desert-life for thee; | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| No more across the sultry sands shalt thou go swooping free: | 14 | ··˘/·/˘····/˘· |
| Blunt idle talons, idle beak, with spurning of thy chain, | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Shatter against thy cage the wing thou ne'er may'st spread again. | 14 | /˘··········˘/ |
| Long, sitting by their watchfires, shall the Kabyles tell the tale | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| Of thy dash from Ben Halifa on the fat Metidja vale; | 15 | ·····˘/˘······· |
| How thou swept'st the desert over, bearing down the wild El Riff, | 14 | ····˘/·/˘····· |
| From eastern Beni Salah to western Ouad Shelif; | 13 | ·/˘/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| How thy white burnous welit streaming, like the storm-rack o'er the sea, | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| When thou rodest in the vanward of the Moorish chivalry; | 14 | ······/˘··/˘/˘ |
| How thy razzia was a whirlwind, thy onset a simoom, | 15 | ··/˘˘··/··/···· |
| How thy sword-sweep was the lightning, dealing death from out the gloom! | 15 | ······/˘/˘····· |
| Nor less quick to slay in battle than in peace to spare and save, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Of brave men wisest councillor, of wise councillors most brave; | 15 | ···/˘·········· |
| How the eye that flashed destruction could beam gentleness and love, | 14 | ·····˘/˘··/˘·· |
| How lion in thee mated lamb, how eagle mated dove! | 13 | ·/··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Availéd not or steel or shot 'gainst that charmed life secure, | 13 | ···········˘/ |
| Till cunning France, in last resource, tossed up the golden lure; | 14 | ·/˘···/˘···/˘· |
| And the carrion buzzards round him stooped, faithless, to the cast, | 14 | ··/˘/˘···/˘··· |
| And the wild hawk of the desert is caught and caged at last. | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| Weep, maidens of Zerifah, above the laden loom! | 13 | ·/˘·······/˘· |
| Scar, chieftains of Al Elmah, your cheeks in grief and gloom! | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| Sons of the Beni Snazam, throw down the useless lance, | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| And stoop your necks and bare your backs to yoke and scourge of France! | 14 | ·············· |
| Twas not in fight they bore him down; he never cried amàn; | 13 | ·········/··· |
| He never sank his sword before the PRINCE OF FRANGHISTAN; | 13 | ·/··········· |
| But with traitors all around him, his star upon the wane, | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| He heard the voice of ALLAH, and he would not strive in vain. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| They gave him what he asked them; from king to king he spake, | 13 | ············· |
| As one that plighted word and seal not knoweth how to break; | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| "Let me pass from out my deserts, be't mine own choice where to go, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| I brook no fettered life to live, a captive and a show." | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| And they promised, and he trusted them, and proud and calm he came, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| Upon his black mare riding, girt with his sword of fame. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| Good steed, good sword, he rendered both unto the Frankish throng; | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| He knew them false and fickle--but a Prince's word is strong. | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| How have they kept their promise? Turned they the vessel's prow | 13 | ·····/˘···/˘· |
| Unto Acre, Alexandria, as they have sworn e'en now? | 14 | ··/˘·˘/˘······ |
| Not so: from Oran northwards the white sails gleam and glance, | 13 | ···˘//˘······ |
| And the wild hawk of the desert is borne away to France! | 14 | ······˘/··˘/·· |
| Where Toulon's white-walled lazaret looks southward o'er the wave, | 13 | ·········/··· |
| Sits he that trusted in the word a son of Louis gave. | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| O noble faith of noble heart! And was the warning vain, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| The text writ by the BOURBON in the blurred black book of Spain? | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| They have need of thee to gaze on, they have need of thee to grace | 15 | ··············· |
| The triumph of the Prince, to gild the pinchbeck of their race. | 14 | ·/˘······/˘··· |
| Words are but wind, conditions must be construed by GUIZOT; | 14 | ····˘/˘··˘/··· |
| Dash out thy heart, thou desert hawk, ere thou art made a show! | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
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.