Meaning & Analysis
This proverb is a simile comparing a person's disposition to that of a dove, which is perceived as being exceptionally gentle, affectionate, calm, and non-aggressive.
Insights
Embodiment of Peace and Love
The dove metaphorically represents an idealized form of love and peace. To be 'as loving as a dove' is to embody gentleness, loyalty, and tranquility, suggesting a character that is a source of comfort and peace.
Innocence and Purity
The comparison extends to themes of innocence and purity. A person described as being 'as tame as a dove' is seen as harmless, without malice or deceit, embodying a simple and virtuous nature free from corruption.
Virtue of Patience
The proverb highlights the virtue of steadfast patience. Shakespeare's image of the 'female dove' patiently waiting for her eggs to hatch ('golden couplets') enriches the metaphor to include quiet endurance and nurturing resilience.
Gentleness as Vulnerability
The very gentleness and tameness celebrated in the proverb can also imply a state of vulnerability. A 'dove-like' nature may be perceived as naive or ill-equipped to handle a harsh and predatory world.
Religious and Mythological Symbolism
The dove's symbolic meaning is deeply rooted in Christian iconography, where it represents the Holy Spirit, peace (as in Noah's Ark), and purity. This religious association elevates the proverb beyond a simple animal comparison, infusing it with connotations of divine grace and virtue.
Folkloric Biology
The ancient belief, referenced in the cross-reference 'Doves have no gall', that doves lacked a gallbladder—the organ thought to produce anger (choler)—provided a physiological 'proof' for their gentle nature, embedding this characteristic in folkloric and early scientific thought.
Literary Reinforcement
Shakespeare's frequent use of this simile, from describing modesty in 'The Taming of the Shrew' to Bottom's comical oxymoron of roaring 'as gently as any sucking dove' in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', demonstrates and reinforces the dove's universally understood symbolism of gentleness in the Elizabethan mindset.
Psychological and Cultural Ideals
The proverb reflects a cultural idealization of passive virtues like patience and gentleness. By associating these traits with the dove, it subtly promotes a model of behavior that is non-confrontational and serene, which can carry gendered undertones, as seen in Shakespeare's reference to the 'female dove'.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The proverb is a direct simile, using the structure 'as...as' to explicitly compare a human quality (love, patience) to the culturally understood nature of a dove, making the meaning clear and emphatic.
Symbolism
The dove serves as a potent and universally recognized symbol for peace, love, and innocence. The proverb's effectiveness relies entirely on this shared cultural symbolism.
Epithet
The adjectives 'loving', 'tame', and 'patient' function as stock epithets for the dove, creating a fixed, memorable, and culturally reinforced association.
Transcription
Quotations
Columbae cum avolant, fallunt caeteras pernicitate volatus: cum sedent, nihil mitius, aut simplicius.
He is as loving a worme againe as a dove.
As tame as a pigeon.
Shakespeare Citations
For she's not froward, but modest as the dove.
But I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove.
Mild as a dove.
As patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are disclos'd.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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