Analysis of The Puzzler
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
The Celt in all his variants from Builth to Ballyhoo,
His mental processes are plain--one knows what he will do,
And can logically predicate his finish by his start;
But the English--ah, the English!--they are quite a race apart.
Their psychology is bovine, their outlook crude and raw.
They abandon vital matters to be tickled with a straw;
But the straw that they were tickled with-the chaff that they were fed with--
They convert into a weaver's beam to break their foeman's head with.
For undemocratic reasons and for motives not of State,
They arrive at their conclusions--largely inarticulate.
Being void of self-expression they confide their views to none;
But sometimes in a smoking-room, one learns why things were done.
Yes, sometimes in a smoking-room, through clouds of "Ers" an "Ums,"
Obliquely and by inference, illumination comes,
On some step that they have taken, or some action they approve
Embellished with the argot of the Upper Fourth Remove.
In telegraphic sentences half nodded to their friends,
They hint a matter's inwardness--and there the matter ends.
And while the Celt is talking from Valencia to Kirkwall,
The English--ah, the English!--don't say anything at all.
Scheme | AABB XXCC XXDD EEFF EEGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (60%) |
Metre | 01011100111101 11010011111111 0110010110111 101010101110101 101001111101 101010101110101 1011101010111011 110010101111111 10010100110111 101110101000100 101110101011111 10100101111101 10100101111111 0100110000101 111111101110101 01010101010101 01100110111 110101010101 01011101010011 0101010111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,182 |
Words | 198 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 47 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 189 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 135 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Puzzler" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33534/the-puzzler>.
Discuss this Rudyard Kipling poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In