Analysis of Dirge Of The Dead Sisters
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Who recalls the twilight and the ranged tents in order
(Violet peaks uplifted through the crystal evening air?)
And the clink of iron teacups and the piteous, noble laughter,
And the faces of the Sisters with the dust upon their hair?
(Now and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils,
Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by -
Let us now remember many honourable women,
Such as bade us turn again when we were like to die.)
Who recalls the morning and the thunder through the foothills,
(Tufts of fleecy shrapnel strung along the empty plains?)
And the sun-scarred Red-Cross coaches creeping guarded to the culvert,
And the faces of the Sisters looking gravely from the trains?
(When the days were torment and the nights were clouded terror,
When the Powers of Darkness had dominion on our soul -
When we fled consuming through the Seven Hells of Fever,
These put out their hands to us and healed and made us whole.)
Who recalls the midnight by the bridge's wrecked abutment,
(Autumn rain that rattled like a Maxim on the tin?)
And the lightning-dazzled levels and the streaming, straining wagons,
And the faces of the Sisters as they bore the wounded in?
(Till the pain was merciful and stunned us into silence -
When each nerve cried out on God that made the misused clay;
When the Body triumphed and the last poor shame departed -
These abode our agonies and wiped the sweat away.)
Who recalls the noontide and the funerals through the market,
(Blanket-hidden bodies, flagless, followed by the flies?)
And the footsore firing-party, and the dust and stench and staleness,
And the faces of the Sisters and the glory in their eyes?
(Bold behind the battle, in the open camp all-hallowed,
Patient, wise, and mirthful in the ringed and reeking town,
These endured unresting till they rested from their labours -
Little wasted bodies, ah, so light to lower down!)
Yet their graves are scattered and their names are clean forgotten,
Earth shall not remember, but the Waiting Angel knows
Them who died at Uitvlugt when the plague was on the city -
Her that fell at Simon's Town' in service on our foes.
Scheme | ABAB CDED XFGF AHAH GIXI XJXJ XKCK XLCL EMXM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (89%) |
Metre | 11010011010 10011001010101 00111010011010 001010101010111 101010101101010 1010101010111 11101010110 1111101110111 110100010101 1110101010101 0011111010101010 001010101010101 1010100101010 101011010101101 11101010101110 1111111010111 1101101011 1011101010101 0010101000101010 001010101110100 10111000110110 1111111110011 10101000111010 10110100010101 1101001001010 101010110101 00110100010101 001010100010011 10101000101110 101010010101 10111110111 1010101111101 11111001111010 1110101010101 1111110111010 01111010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,109 |
Words | 382 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 47 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 186 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 1:55 min read
- 120 Views
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"Dirge Of The Dead Sisters" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33195/dirge-of-the-dead-sisters>.
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