Analysis of The Mother-Lodge
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
There was Rundle, Station Master,
An' Beazeley of the Rail,
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat,
An' Donkin' o' the Jail;
An' Blake, Conductor-Sargent,
Our Master twice was 'e,
With 'im that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.
Outside -- "Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!"
Inside -- "Brother", an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!
We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,
An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,
The Roman Catholick!
We 'adn't good regalia,
An' our Lodge was old an' bare,
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,
An' we kep' 'em to a hair;
An' lookin' on it backwards
It often strikes me thus,
There ain't such things as infidels,
Excep', per'aps, it's us.
For monthly, after Labour,
We'd all sit down and smoke
(We dursn't give no banquits,
Lest a Brother's caste were broke),
An' man on man got talkin'
Religion an' the rest,
An' every man comparin'
Of the God 'e knew the best.
So man on man got talkin',
An' not a Brother stirred
Till mornin' waked the parrots
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird;
We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed,
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.
Full oft on Guv'ment service
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed,
An' bore fraternal greetin's
To the Lodges east an' west,
Accordin' as commanded
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!
I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
An' the ~hog-darn~ passin' down; [Cigar-lighter.]
An' the old khansamah snorin' [Butler.]
On the bottle-khana floor, [Pantry.]
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more!
Outside -- "Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!"
Inside -- "Brother", an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!
Scheme | abcbcxxd EFGG cdhcciji kgxgxlxl xmjmhchc hcxclckc lcjccnon ohcaaaxn EFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101010 11101 111 11101 1101010 1010111 11110101 111 111010101 01101110111 11010101110101 11110100110111 1101010 110101 110101 1001101 11011 101101 1101011 0101 111010 11011111 1110101 1110101 111110 110111 11111100 1111 110101 111101 11111 1010101 1111110 010101 110011 1011101 1111110 110101 111010 1111101 1111100 1111111 111110 1100101 111110 11111 110101 1010111 11010 11110 11111111 0110111 1111111 110111 101110 101111110 101111 1010111 10100110 1110111 111010101 01101110111 11010101110101 11110100110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,171 |
Words | 362 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 435 Views
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"The Mother-Lodge" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33504/the-mother-lodge>.
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