Analysis of A Pict Song
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass on--that is all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
We are the Little Folk--we!
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone and you'll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!
Mistletoe killing an oak--
Rats gnawing cables in two--
Moths making holes in a cloak--
How they must love what they do!
Yes--and we Little Folk too,
We are busy as they--
Working our works out of view--
Watch, and you'll see it some day!
No indeed! We are not strong,
But we know Peoples that are.
Yes, and we'll guide them along
To smash and destroy you in War!
We shall be slaves just the same?
Yes, we have always been slaves,
But you--you will die of the shame,
And then we shall dance on your graves!
We are the Little Folk, we, etc.
Scheme | ABABBCBC DEDEXXXX FGFGGHGH IXIXJKJK X |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101111 101011 110101011101 01101111 01011111 011001101 01101001 1101011101 1101011 11011111 1101011 1111101 1101001 1101101 1101001 1101001 101011 1101001 1101001 1111111 1011011 111011 10101111 1011111 1011111 1111011 1011101 11001101 1111101 111111 11111101 01111111 1101011100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,037 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 1 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 160 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 141 Views
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