Analysis of The Pro-Consuls
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
The overfaithful sword returns the user
His heart's desire at price of his heart's blood.
The clamour of the arrogant accuser
Wastes that one hour we needed to make good.
This was foretold of old at our outgoing;
This we accepted who have squandered, knowing,
The strength and glory of our reputations,
At the day's need, as it were dross, to guard
The tender and new-dedicate foundations
Against the sea we fear -- not man's award.
They that dig foundations deep,
Fit for realms to rise upon,
Little honour do they reap
Of their generation,
Any more than mountains gain
Stature till we reach the plain.
With noveil before their face
Such as shroud or sceptre lend --
Daily in the market-place,
Of one height to foe and friend --
They must cheapen self to find
Ends uncheapened for mankind.
Through the night when hirelings rest,
Sleepless they arise, alone,
The unsleeping arch to test
And the o'er-trusted corner-stone,
'Gainst the need, they know, that lies
Hid behind the centuries.
Not by lust of praise or show
Not by Peace herself betrayed --
Peace herself must they forego
Till that peace be fitly made;
And in single strength uphold
Wearier hands and hearts acold.
On the stage their act hath framed
For thy sports, O Liberty!
Doubted are they, and defamed
By the tongues their act set free,
While they quicken, tend and raise
Power that must their power displace.
Lesser men feign greater goals,
Failing whereof they may sit
Scholarly to judge the souls
That go down into the pit,
And, despite its certain clay,
Heave a new world towards the day.
These at labour make no sign,
More than planets, tides or years
Which discover God's design,
Not our hopes and not our fears;
Nor in aught they gain or lose
Seek a triumph or excuse.
For, so the Ark be borne to Zion, who
Heeds how they perished or were paid that bore it?
For, so the Shrine abide, what shame -- what pride --
If we, the priests, were bound or crowned before it?
Scheme | ABAXCCDXDX EXEXFF GHGHII JKJKXX LMLMXB NONOXG PQPQRR STSTXX XQXQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01101010 11010111111 0110100010 11110110111 11011111010 11010111010 01010110010 1011110111 0100110010 0101111101 1110101 1111101 101111 11010 1011101 1011101 110111 1111101 1000101 1111101 1110111 11111 101111 1010101 01111 001010101 1011111 1010100 1111111 1110101 1011101 111111 0010101 11011 1011111 1111100 1011001 1011111 1110101 101111001 1011101 101111 1001101 1110101 0011101 10110101 111111 1110111 1010101 110101101 1011111 1010101 1101111101 11110101111 1101011111 11010111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,888 |
Words | 350 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 169 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 99 Views
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"The Pro-Consuls" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33531/the-pro-consuls>.
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