Analysis of Frankie's Trade
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Old Horn to All Atlantic said:
(A-hay O! To me O!)
"Now where did Frankie learn his trade?
For he ran me down with a three-reef mains'I."
(All round the Horn!)
Atlantic answered:--"Not from me!
You'd better ask the cold North Sea,
For he ran me down under all plain canvas."
(All round the Horn!)
The North Sea answered: -- "He's my man,
For he came to me when he began--
Frankie Drake in an open coaster.
(All round the Sands!)
"I caught him young and I used him sore,
So you never shall startle Frankie more,
Without capsizing Earth and her waters.
(All round the Sands!)
"I did not favour him at all.
I made him pull and I made him haul--
And stand his trick with the common sailors.
(All round the Sands!)
"I froze him stiff and I fogged him blind,
And kicked him home with his road to find
By what he could see in a three-day snowy-storm.
(All round the Sands!)
"I learned him his trade o' winter nights,
'Twixt Mardyk Fort and Dunkirk lights,
On a five-knot tide with the forts a-firing.
(All round the Sands!)
"Before his beard began to shoot,
I showed him the length of the Spaniard's foot--
And I reckon he clapped the boot on it later.
(All round the Sands!)
"If there's a risk which you can make,
That's worse than he was used to take
Nigh every week in the way of his business;
(All round the Sands!)
"If there's a trick that you can try,
Which he hasn't met in time gone by,
Not once or twice, but ten times over;
(All round the Sands!)
"If you can teach him aught that's new,
(A-hay O! To me O!)
I'll give you Bruges and Niewport too,
And the ten tall churches that stand between
Storm along, my gallant Captains!
(All round the Horn!)
Scheme | xAxbC ddeC ffgH iijH kkjH llxH mmxH xxgH nneH bbgH oAoxxC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101 011111 11110111 11111101111 1101 01010111 11010111 11111101110 1101 01110111 111111101 101011010 1101 111101111 1110110101 01110010 1101 1111111 111101111 0111101010 1101 111101111 011111111 111110011101 1101 111111101 1110101 10111101010 1101 01110111 111011011 011011011110 1101 11011111 11111111 110010011110 1101 11011111 111010111 111111110 1101 11111111 011111 11110011 0011101101 10111010 1101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,623 |
Words | 333 |
Sentences | 28 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 125 Views
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"Frankie's Trade" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33215/frankie%27s-trade>.
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