Analysis of Sestina Of The Tramp-Royal
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Speakin' in general, I 'ave tried 'em all,
The 'appy roads that take you o'er the world.
Speakin' in general, I 'ave found them good
For such as cannot use one bed too long,
But must get 'ence, the same as I 'ave done,
An' go observin' matters till they die.
What do it matter where or 'ow we die,
So long as we've our 'ealth to watch it all --
The different ways that different things are done,
An' men an' women lovin' in this world --
Takin' our chances as they come along,
An' when they ain't, pretendin' they are good?
In cash or credit -- no, it aren't no good;
You 'ave to 'ave the 'abit or you'd die,
Unless you lived your life but one day long,
Nor didn't prophesy nor fret at all,
But drew your tucker some'ow from the world,
An' never bothered what you might ha' done.
But, Gawd, what things are they I 'aven't done?
I've turned my 'and to most, an' turned it good,
In various situations round the world --
For 'im that doth not work must surely die;
But that's no reason man should labour all
'Is life on one same shift; life's none so long.
Therefore, from job to job I've moved along.
Pay couldn't 'old me when my time was done,
For something in my 'ead upset me all,
Till I 'ad dropped whatever 'twas for good,
An', out at sea, be'eld the dock-lights die,
An' met my mate -- the wind that tramps the world!
It's like a book, I think, this bloomin' world,
Which you can read and care for just so long,
But presently you feel that you will die
Unless you get the page you're readin' done,
An' turn another -- likely not so good;
But what you're after is to turn 'em all.
Gawd bless this world! Whatever she 'ath done --
Excep' when awful long -- I've found it good.
So write, before I die, "'E liked it all!"
Scheme | ABCDEF FAEBDC CFDABE ECBFAD DEACFB BDFECA ECA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Sestina (89%) |
Metre | 1010011111 0111111001 1010011111 1111011111 1111011111 11110111 1111011111 11111011111 010011100111 1111010011 1101011101 11111111 01110111011 111101111 0111111111 11011111 1111011101 1101011111 11111110111 1110111111 0100010101 1111111101 111101111 1111111111 111111101 1101111111 1100110111 111110111 111110111 1111011101 110111111 1111011111 1100111111 011101111 1101010111 1111011111 111110111 111011111 1101111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,698 |
Words | 341 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 3 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 180 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 48 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 152 Views
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"Sestina Of The Tramp-Royal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33336/sestina-of-the-tramp-royal>.
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