Analysis of Shillin' A Day
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the Revelly
From Birr to Bareilly, from Leeds to Lahore,
Hong-Kong and Peshawur,
Lucknow and Etawah,
And fifty-five more all endin' in "pore".
Black Death and his quickness, the depth and the thickness,
Of sorrow and sickness I've known on my way,
But I'm old and I'm nervis,
I'm cast from the Service,
And all I deserve is a shillin' a day.
(~Chorus~) Shillin' a day,
Bloomin' good pay --
Lucky to touch it, a shillin' a day!
Oh, it drives me half crazy to think of the days I
Went slap for the Ghazi, my sword at my side,
When we rode Hell-for-leather
Both squadrons together,
That didn't care whether we lived or we died.
But it's no use despairin', my wife must go charin'
An' me commissairin' the pay-bills to better,
So if me you be'old
In the wet and the cold,
By the Grand Metropold, won't you give me a letter?
(~Full chorus~) Give 'im a letter --
'Can't do no better,
Late Troop-Sergeant-Major an' -- runs with a letter!
Think what 'e's been,
Think what 'e's seen,
Think of his pension an' ----
GAWD SAVE THE QUEEN.
Scheme | XAABACBCCDDDD XEFFEGFHHFFFFGGG G |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (27%) Etheree (27%) |
Metre | 1110101101 111111101 1101 101 010111101 110110010010 11001011111 111011 111010 0110110101 10101 111 101110101 1111110111011 1110111111 1111110 110010 11011011111 1111111111 111011110 111111 001001 10111111010 11011010 11110 111010111010 1111 1111 111101 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,175 |
Words | 199 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 16, 1 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 258 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 19, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 170 Views
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"Shillin' A Day" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33338/shillin%27-a-day>.
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