Analysis of To a Captive Owl
Henry Timrod 1828 (Charleston) – 1867 (Columbia)
I should be dumb before thee, feathered sage!
And gaze upon thy phiz with solemn awe,
But for a most audacious wish to gauge
The hoarded wisdom of thy learned craw.
Art thou, grave bird! so wondrous wise indeed?
Speak freely, without fear of jest or gibe -
What is thy moral and religious creed?
And what the metaphysics of thy tribe?
A Poet, curious in birds and brutes,
I do not question thee in idle play;
What is thy station? What are thy pursuits?
Doubtless thou hast thy pleasures - what are THEY?
Or is 't thy wont to muse and mouse at once,
Entice thy prey with airs of meditation,
And with the unvarying habits of a dunce,
To dine in solemn depths of contemplation?
There may be much - the world at least says so -
Behind that ponderous brow and thoughtful gaze;
Yet such a great philosopher should know,
It is by no means wise to think always.
And, Bird, despite thy meditative air,
I hold thy stock of wit but paltry pelf -
Thou show'st that same grave aspect everywhere,
And wouldst look thoughtful, stuffed, upon a shelf.
I grieve to be so plain, renowned Bird -
Thy fame 's a flam, and thou an empty fowl;
And what is more, upon a Poet's word
I'd say as much, wert thou Minerva's owl.
So doff th' imposture of those heavy brows;
They do not serve to hide thy instincts base -
And if thou must be sometimes munching MOUSE,
Munch it, O Owl! with less profound a face.
Scheme | AXAX BCBC DEDE DFDF DDXD GHGH IJIJ DDDD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (88%) |
Metre | 1111011101 0101111101 1101010111 010101111 1111110101 1100111111 1111000101 010010111 0101000101 1111010101 1111011101 1011110111 11111110111 0111111010 010110101 1101011010 1111011111 01110010101 1101010011 111111111 010111001 1111111101 111111110 0111010101 111111011 11101011101 0111010101 11111111 1111111101 1111111101 0111101101 1111110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,356 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 148 Views
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"To a Captive Owl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18286/to-a-captive-owl>.
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