Pigeon, The

DESCRIPTION: A woman asks where her lover is and why he hadn't returned. She sends a letter by pigeon. The pigeon flys through a storm; it "disdain'd To seek shelter ... It flew all around Till Colin he found." and dies from exhaustion while Colin reads the letter.
AUTHOR: Lady Anne Lindsay (Barnard) (1750-1825) (source: Wilson)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1819 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2362))
KEYWORDS: love separation death ordeal storm bird lover
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 231-232, "The Dove" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 284)
ADDITIONAL: James Grant Wilson, The Poets and Poetry of Scotland (London, 1876 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 334,336, "Why Tarries My Love?" (1 text)
Roud #1296
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2362), "The Pigeon("Why tarries my love a[h] where does he rove?"), H. Wadsworth (Birmingham), 1802-1818; also 2806 c.16*(154), Harding B 15(309b), 2806 c.18(244), Harding B 21(14), Harding B 11(2418), "The Pigeon"
NOTES [30 words]: Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO lacks Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames third verse in which the woman "tied to his wing this letter with a string, And kissed him and sent him away." - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: WT231

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