Analysis of Road Song of the Bandar-Log

Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)



Here we go in a flung festoon,
Half-way up to the jealous moon!
Don't you envy our pranceful bands?
Don't you wish you had extra hands?
Would n't you like if your tails were -- so --
Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?
Now you're angry, but -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

Here we sit in a branchy row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know;
Dreaming of deeds that we mean to do,
All complete, in a minute or two --
Something noble and grand and good,
Won by merely wishing we could.
Now we're going to -- never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!

All the talk we ever have heard
Uttered by bat or beast or bird --
Hide or fin or scale or feather --
Jabber it quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Let 's pretend we are... never mind,
Brother, thy tail hangs down behind!
This is the way of the Monkey-kind.


Scheme aabbcxdD cceeffdD gghhiidDd
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1110011 11110101 11101011 11111101 1111111101 10011011 11101101 10111101 1110011 101100111 101111111 101001011 10100101 11101011 11101101 10111101 10111011 10111111 11111110 111001010 100100101 11110111 110111101 10111101 110110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 879
Words 174
Sentences 16
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 9
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 222
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 26, 2023

54 sec read
227

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India and his tales for children. more…

All Rudyard Kipling poems | Rudyard Kipling Books

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