Analysis of With Drake in the Tropics
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
South and far south below the Line,
Our Admiral leads us on,
Above, undreamed-of planets shine--
The stars we know are gone.
Around, our clustered seamen mark
The silent deep ablaze
With fires, through which the far-down shark
Shoots glimmering on his ways.
The sultry tropic breezes fail
That plagued us all day through;
Like molten silver hangs our sail,
Our decks are dark with dew.
Now the rank moon commands the sky.
Ho! Bid the watch beware
And rouse all sleeping men that lie
Unsheltered in her glare.
How long the time 'twixt bell and bell!
How still our lanthorns burn!
How strange our whispered words that tell
Of England and return!
Old towns, old streets, old friends, old loves,
We name them each to each,
While the lit face of Heaven removes
Them farther from our reach.
Now is the utmost ebb of night
When mind and body sink,
And loneliness and gathering fright
O'erwhelm us, if we think--
Yet, look, where in his room apart,
All windows opened wide,
Our Admiral thrusts away the chart
And comes to walk outside.
Kindly, from man to man he goes,
With comfort, praise, or jest,
Quick to suspect our childish woes,
Our terror and unrest.
It is as though the sun should shine--
Our midnight fears are gone!
South and far south below the Line,
Our Admiral leads us on!
Scheme | ABacdede fgfghihi jkjkxlxl mnmnopop qrqracAB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (38%) |
Metre | 10110101 10100111 01011101 011111 011010101 010101 110110111 1100111 01010101 111111 110101101 1011111 10110101 110101 01110111 1001 11011101 111011 111010111 110001 11111111 111111 101111001 1101101 1101111 110101 010001001 11111 11101101 110101 1010010101 011111 10111111 110111 110110101 1010001 11110111 101111 10110101 10100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,290 |
Words | 232 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 200 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 46 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:09 min read
- 110 Views
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"With Drake in the Tropics" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33645/with-drake-in-the-tropics>.
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