The Truant Dove, From Pilpay Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDDCD EFFEGGHGHIIJKBLI IIMMIMMGGIINNBBB OOBBIIPPQQOORRPP MMIISTSUBBIIBBPB PBBBIIIIVVBBAAHH EEWWBBBBXOXX OO RRIIRRBBNINIHHHH XXOOYYRRZZXXX II XKKKKMMII XMM A2A2IIIIHHRRIIB2UII RRRRBBMMIII| A MOUNTAIN stream its channel deep | A |
| Beneath a rock's rough base had torn | B |
| The cliff like a vast castle wall was steep | A |
| By fretting rains in many a crevice worn | B |
| But the fern wav'd there and the mosses crept | C |
| And o'er the summit where the wind | D |
| Peel'd from their stems the silver rind | D |
| Depending birches wept | C |
| There tufts of broom a footing used to find | D |
| - | |
| And heath and straggling grass to grow | E |
| And half way down from roots enwreathing broke | F |
| The branches of a scathed oak | F |
| And seem'd to guard the cave below | E |
| Where each revolving year | G |
| Their twins two faithful doves were wont to rear | G |
| Choice never join'd a fonder pair | H |
| To each their simple home was dear | G |
| No discord ever enter'd there | H |
| But there the soft affections dwell'd | I |
| And three returning springs beheld | I |
| Secure within their fortress high | J |
| The little happy family | K |
| 'Toujours perdrix messieurs ne valent rien' | B |
| So did a Gallic monarch once harangue | L |
| And evil was the day whereon our bird | I |
| - | |
| This saying heard | I |
| From certain new acquaintance he had found | I |
| Who at their perfect ease | M |
| Amid a field of peas | M |
| Boasted to him that all the country round | I |
| The wheat and oats and barley rye and tares | M |
| Quite to the neighbouring sea were theirs | M |
| And theirs the oak and beech woods far and near | G |
| For their right noble owner was a peer | G |
| And they themselves luxuriantly were stored | I |
| In a great dove cote to amuse my lord | I |
| 'Toujours perdrix ne valent rien ' That's strange | N |
| When people once are happy wherefore change | N |
| So thought our stock dove but communication | B |
| With birds in his new friend's exalted station | B |
| Whose means of information | B |
| - | |
| And knowledge of all sorts must be so ample | O |
| Who saw great folks and follow'd their example | O |
| Made on the dweller of the cave impression | B |
| And soon whatever was his best possession | B |
| His sanctuary within the rock's deep breast | I |
| His soft eyed partner and her nest | I |
| He thought of with indifference then with loathing | P |
| So much insipid love was good for nothing | P |
| But sometimes tenderness return'd his dame | Q |
| So long belov'd so mild so free from blame | Q |
| How should he tell her he had learn'd to cavil | O |
| At happiness itself and longed to travel | O |
| His heart still smote him so much wrong to do her | R |
| He knew not how to break the matter to her | R |
| But love tho' blind himself makes some discerning | P |
| His frequent absence and his late returning | P |
| - | |
| With ruffled plumage and with alter'd eyes | M |
| His careless short replies | M |
| And to their couplets coldness or neglect | I |
| Had made his gentle wife suspect | I |
| All was not right but she forbore to teaze him | S |
| Which would but give him an excuse to rove | T |
| She therefore tried by every art to please him | S |
| Endur'd his peevish starts with patient love | U |
| And when like other husbands from a tavern | B |
| Of his new notions full he sought his cavern | B |
| She with dissembled cheerfulness 'beguiled | I |
| 'The thing she was ' and gaily coo ed and smiled | I |
| 'Tis not in this most motley sphere uncommon | B |
| For man and so of course more feeble woman | B |
| Most strongly to suspect what they're pursuing | P |
| Will lead them to inevitable ruin | B |
| - | |
| Yet rush with open eyes to their undoing | P |
| Thus felt the dove but in the cant of fashion | B |
| He talk'd of fate and of predestination | B |
| And in a grave oration | B |
| He to his much affrighted mate related | I |
| How he yet slumbering in the egg was fated | I |
| To gather knowledge to instruct his kind | I |
| By observation elevate his mind | I |
| And give new impulse to Columbian life | V |
| 'If it be so ' exclaim'd his hapless wife | V |
| 'It is my fate to pass my days in pain | B |
| 'To mourn your love estrang'd and mourn in vain | B |
| 'Here in our once dear hut to wake and weep | A |
| 'When thy unkindness shall have murder'd sleep | A |
| 'And never that dear hut shall I prepare | H |
| 'And wait with fondness your arrival there | H |
| - | |
| 'While me and mine forgetting you will go | E |
| 'To some new love ' 'Why no I tell you no | E |
| 'What shall I say such foolish fears to cure | W |
| 'I only mean to make a little tour | W |
| 'Just just to see the world around me then | B |
| 'With new delight I shall come home again | B |
| 'Such tours are quite the rage at my return | B |
| 'I shall have much to tell and you to learn | B |
| 'Of fashions some becoming some grotesque | X |
| 'Of change of empires and ideas novel | O |
| 'Of buildings Grecian Gothic Arabesque | X |
| 'And scenery sublime and picturesque | X |
| 'And all these things with pleasure we'll discuss ' | - |
| 'Ah me and what are all these things to us ' | - |
| 'So then you'd have a bird of genius grovel | O |
| 'And never see beyond a farmer's hovel | O |
| - | |
| 'Even the sand martin that inferior creature | R |
| 'Goes once a year abroad ' 'It is his nature | R |
| 'But yours how different once ' and then she sigh'd | I |
| 'There was a time Ah would that I had died | I |
| 'E'er you so chang'd when you'd have perish'd rather | R |
| 'Than this poor breast should heave a single feather | R |
| 'With grief and care And all this cant of fashion | B |
| 'Would but have rais'd your anger or compassion | B |
| 'O my dear love You sought not then to range | N |
| 'But on my changeful neck as fell the light | I |
| 'You sweetly said you wish'd no other change | N |
| 'Than that soft neck could shew to berries bright | I |
| 'Of mountain ash you fondly could compare | H |
| 'My scarlet feet and bill my shape and air | H |
| 'Ah faithless flatterer did you not declare | H |
| 'The soul of grace and beauty center'd there | H |
| - | |
| 'My eyes you said were opals brightly pink | X |
| 'Enchas'd in onyx and you seem'd to think | X |
| 'Each charm might then the coldest heart enthrall | O |
| 'Those charms were mine Alas I gave you all | O |
| 'Your farthest wanderings then were but to fetch | Y |
| 'The pea the tare the beechmast and the vetch | Y |
| 'For my repast within my rocky bower | R |
| 'With spleenwort shaded and the blue bell's flower | R |
| 'For prospects then you never wish'd to roam | Z |
| 'But the best scenery was our happy home | Z |
| 'And when beneath my breast then fair and young | X |
| 'Our first dear pair our earliest nestlings sprung | X |
| 'And weakly indistinctly tried to coo | X |
| 'Were not those moments picturesque to you ' | - |
| 'Yes faith my dear and all you say is true ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Oh hear me then if thus we have been blest | I |
| 'If on these wings it was your joy to rest | I |
| 'Love must from habit still new strength be gaining ' | - |
| 'From habit 'tis of that child I'm complaining | X |
| 'This everlasting fondness will not be | K |
| 'For birds of flesh and blood We sha'nt agree | K |
| 'So why dispute now prithee don't torment me | K |
| 'I shall not long be gone let that content ye | K |
| 'Pshaw what a fuss Come no more sighs and groans | M |
| 'Keep up your spirits mind your little ones | M |
| 'My journey won't be far my honour's pledged | I |
| 'I shall be back again before they're fledged | I |
| 'Give me a kiss and now my dear adieu ' | - |
| So light of heart and plumes away he flew | X |
| And as above the sheltering rock he springs | M |
| She listen'd to the echo of his wings | M |
| - | |
| Those well known sounds so soothing heretofore | A2 |
| Which her heart whisper'd she should hear no more | A2 |
| Then to her cold and widow'd bed she crept | I |
| Clasp'd her half orphan'd young and wept | I |
| Her recreant mate by other views attracted | I |
| A very different part enacted | I |
| He sought the dove cote and was greeted there | H |
| With all that's tonish elegant and rare | H |
| Among the pigeon tribes and there the rover | R |
| Lived quite in clover | R |
| His jolly comrades now were blades of spirit | I |
| Their nymphs possess'd most fascinating merit | I |
| Nor fail'd our hero of the rock to prove | B2 |
| He thought not of inviolable love | U |
| To his poor spouse at home He bow'd and sigh'd | I |
| Now to a fantail's now a cropper's bride | I |
| - | |
| Then cow'ring low to a majestic powter | R |
| Declared he should not suffer life without her | R |
| And then with upturn'd eyes in phrase still humbler | R |
| Implor'd the pity of an almond tumbler | R |
| Next to a beauteous carrier's feet he'd run | B |
| And lived a week the captive of a nun | B |
| Thus far in measureless content he revels | M |
| And blest the hour when he began his travels | M |
| Yet some things soon occurr'd not quite so pleasant | I |
| He had observ'd that an unfeeling peasant | I |
| It silence mounti | I |
Charlotte Smith
(1)
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The Truant Dove, From Pilpay is a poem by Charlotte Smith. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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