Analysis of The Threshold
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
In their deepest caverns of limestone
They pictured the Gods of Food--
The Horse, the Elk, and the Bison
That the hunting might be good;
With the Gods of Death and Terror--
The Mammoth, Tiger, and Bear.
And the pictures moved in the torchlight
To show that the Gods were there!
But that was before Ionia--
(Or the Seven Holy Islands of Ionia)
Any of the Mountains of Ionia,
Had bared their peaks to the air.
The close years packed behind them,
As the glaciers bite and grind,
Filling the new-gouged valleys
With Gods of every kind.
Gods of all-reaching power--
Gods of all-searching eyes--
But each to be wooed by worship
And won by sacrifice.
Till, after many winters, rose Ionia--
(Strange men brooding in Ionia)
Crystal-eyed Sages of Ionia
Who said, "These tales are lies.
"We dream one Breath in all things,
"That blows all things between.
"We dream one Matter in all things--
"Eternal, changeless, unseen.
"'That the heart of the Matter is single
"Till the Breath shall bid it bring forth--
"By choosing or losing its neighbour--
"All things made upon Earth."
But Earth was wiser than Ionia
(Babylon and Egypt than Ionia)
And they overlaid the teaching of Ionia
And the Truth was choked at birth.
It died at the Gate of Knowledge--
The Key to the Gate in its hand--
And the anxious priests and wizards
Re-blinded the wakening land;
For they showed, by answering echoes,
And chasing clouds as they rose,
How shadows should stand for bulwarks
Between mankind and its woes.
It was then that men bethought them of Ionia
(The few that had not allforgot Ionia)
Or the Word that was whispered in Ionia;
And they turned from the shadows and the shows.
They found one Breath in all things,
That moves all things between.
They proved one Matter in all things--
Eternal, changeless, unseen;
That the heart of the Matter was single
Till the Breath should bid it bring forth--
Even as men whispered in Ionia,
(Resolute, unsatisfied Ionia)
Ere the Word was stifled in Ionia--
All things known upon earth!
Scheme | abxxcdbdaaad xefecgxxaaag hihIjkclaaal xmxmnnfnaaan hihIjkaaal |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01101011 1100111 01010010 1010111 10111010 0101001 00101001 1110101 111011 1010101011 10101011 1111101 0111011 1010101 1001110 1111001 1111010 111101 11111110 01110 110101011 111001 1011011 111111 1111011 111101 11110011 010101 1011010110 10111111 11011011 111011 1111011 1001011 011001011 0011111 11101110 01101011 00101010 110011 111110010 0101111 111111 0111011 111111111 0111111 101111001 011101001 1111011 111101 11110011 010101 1011010110 10111111 10111001 100101 10111001 111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,106 |
Words | 354 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 12, 12, 10 |
Lines Amount | 58 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 310 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 70 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:46 min read
- 212 Views
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"The Threshold" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33587/the-threshold>.
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