Analysis of The Morning Song of the Jungle

Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)



One moment past our bodies cast
No shadow on the plain;
Now clear and black they stride our track,
And we run home again.
In morning-hush, each rock and bush
Stands hard, and high, and raw:
Then give the Call:  "Good rest to all
That keep the Jungle Law!"

Now horn and pelt our peoples melt
In covert to abide;
Now, crouched and still, to cave and hill
Our Jungle Barons glide.
Now, stark and plain, Man's oxen strain,
That draw the new-yoked plough;
Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is red
Above the lit talao.

Ho! Get to lair! The sun's aflare
Behind the breathing grass:
And creaking through the young bamboo
The warning whispers pass.
By day made strange, the woods we range
With blinking eyes we scan;
While down the skies the wild duck cries:
 "The Day--the Day to Man!"

The dew is dried that drenched our hide,
Or washed about our way;
And where we drank, the puddled bank
Is crisping into clay.
The traitor Dark gives up each mark
Of stretched or hooded claw:
Then hear the Call: "Good rest to all
That keep the Jungle Law!"


Scheme xaxxxbcD xexeaxxc bfxfxgxg ehxhxdcD
Poetic Form
Metre 110110101 11101 110111101 011101 01011101 110101 11011111 110101 110110101 010101 11011101 1010101 11011101 110111 11010111 01011 1111011 010101 01010101 010101 11110111 110111 11010111 010111 011111101 1101101 0111011 11011 01011111 111101 11011111 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,010
Words 197
Sentences 11
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 198
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

58 sec read
142

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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