Analysis of The Destroyers
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
The strength of twice three thousand horse
That seeks the single goal;
The line that holds the rending course,
The hate that swings the whole;
The stripped hulls, slinking through the gloom,
At gaze and gone again --
The Brides of Death that wait the groom --
The Choosers of the Slain!
Offshore where sea and skyline blend
In rain, the daylight dies;
The sullen, shouldering sweels attend
Night and our sacrifice.
Adown the stricken capes no flare --
No mark on spit or bar, --
Birdled and desperate we dare
The blindfold game of war.
Nearer the up-flung beams that spell
The council of our foes;
Clearer the barking guns that tell
Their scattered flank to close.
Sheer to the trap they crowd their way
From ports for this unbarred.
Quiet, and count our laden prey,
The convoy and her guard!
On shoal with carce a foot below,
Where rock and islet throng,
Hidden and hushed we watch them throw
Their anxious lights along.
Not here, not here your danger lies --
(Stare hard, O hooded eyne!)
Save were the dazed rock-pigeons rise
The lit cliffs give no sign.
Therefore -- to break the rest ye seek,
The Narrow Seas to clear --
Hark to the siren's whimpering shriek --
The driven death is here!
Look to your van a league away, --
What midnight terror stays
The bulk that checks against the spray
Her crackling tops ablaze?
Hit, and hard hit! The blow went home,
The muffled, knocking stroke --
The steam that overruns the foam --
The foam that thins to smoke --
The smoke that clokes the deep aboil --
The deep that chokes her throes
Till, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil,
The lukewarm whirlpools close!
A shadow down the sickened wave
Long since her slayer fled:
But hear their chattering quick-fires rave
Astern, abeam, ahead!
Panic that shells the drifting spar --
Loud waste with none to check --
Mad fear that rakes a scornful star
Or sweeps a consort's deck.
Now, while their silly smoke hangs thick,
Now ere their wits they find,
Lay in and lance them to the quick --
Our gallied whales are blind!
Good luck to those that see end end,
Good-bye to those that drown --
For each his chance as chance shall send --
And God for all! Shut down!
The strength of twice three thousand horse
That serve the one command;
The hand that heaves the headlong force,
The hate that backs the hand:
The doom-bolt in the darkness freed,
The mine that splits the main;
The white-hot wake, the 'wildering speed --
The Choosers of the Slain!
Scheme | AbabcdcE fgfxhihx jkjlmfmx nonogdgx pxpxmqmq rsrsbkxl tutuiviv wxwxfyfy Azaz1 e1 e |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111101 110101 01110101 011101 0111101 110101 01111101 01101 1111011 01011 010100101 101010 1010111 111111 101011 01111 10011111 0101101 10010111 110111 11011111 11111 100110101 01001 11110101 110101 10011111 110101 11111101 111101 10011101 011111 1110111 010111 11011001 010111 11110101 11101 01110101 010101 10110111 010101 0111001 011111 0111011 011101 11110111 01111 0110101 110101 1111001101 1101 10110101 111111 11110101 11011 11110111 111111 10011101 101111 11111111 111111 11111111 011111 01111101 110101 0111011 011101 01100101 011101 0111011 01101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,367 |
Words | 446 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 209 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 2:14 min read
- 225 Views
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"The Destroyers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33411/the-destroyers>.
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