Analysis of The Totem
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Ere the mother's milk had dried
On my lips the Brethren came--
Tore me from my nurse's side,
And bestowed on me a name
Infamously overtrue--
Such as "Bunny," "Stinker," "Podge";--
But, whatever I should do,
Mine for ever in the Lodge.
Then they taught with palm and toe--
Then I learned with yelps and tears--
All the Armoured Man should know
Through his Seven Secret Years...
Last, oppressing as oppressed,
I was loosed to go my ways
With a Totem on my breast
Governing my nights and days--
Ancient and unbribeable,
By the virtue of its Name--
Which, however oft I fell,
Lashed me back into The Game.
And the World, that never knew,
Saw no more beneath my chin
Than a patch of rainbow-hue,
Mixed as Life and crude as Sin.
Scheme | ABAB XCDC EXEX FGFG HBHB DIDI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 1010111 1110101 1111101 0011101 11 111011 110111 1110001 1111101 1111101 101111 1110101 1010101 1111111 1010111 1001101 1001 1010111 110111 1110101 0011101 1110111 101111 1110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 731 |
Words | 138 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 91 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 159 Views
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"The Totem" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33588/the-totem>.
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