Analysis of The Song of the Little Hunter

Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)



Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry,
  Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer,
Through the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh--
  He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!            
Very softly down the glade runs a waiting, watching shade,
  And the whisper spreads and widens far and near.
And the sweat is on thy brow, for he passes even now--
  He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!

Ere the moon has climbed the mountain, ere the rocks are ribbed with light,
  When the downward-dipping trails are dank and drear,
Comes a breathing hard behind thee--snuffle-snuffle through the night--
  It is Fear, O Little Hunter  it is Fear,  
On thy knees and draw the bow; bid the shrilling arrow go;
  In the empty, mocking thicket plunge the spear!
But thy hands are loosed and weak, and the blood has left thy cheek--              
  It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear!

When the heat-cloud sucks the tempest, when the slivered pine-trees fall,
  When the blinding, blaring rain-squalls lash and veer,
Through the war-gongs of the thunder rings a voice more loud than all--
  It is Fear, O Little Hunter, it is Fear!
Now the spates are banked and deep; now the footless boulders leap--
  Now the lightning shows each littlest leaf--rib clear--
But thy throat is shut and dried, and thy heart against thy side
  Hammers: Fear, O Little Hunter--this is Fear!


Scheme abaBxbxB cacbxbxB dbdBxbxb
Poetic Form
Metre 1101101010101 110111011 10101010101001 11111010111 10101011010101 00101010101 00111111110101 11111010111 101110101011111 10101011101 1010101111101 11111010111 1110101101101 00101010101 11111010011111 11111010111 10111010101111 10101011101 101110101011111 11111010111 1011101101101 101011100111 11111010110111 10111010111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,384
Words 245
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 43
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 346
Words per stanza (avg) 81
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:13 min read
133

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English short-story writer, poet, and novelist chiefly remembered for his tales and poems of British soldiers in India and his tales for children. more…

All Rudyard Kipling poems | Rudyard Kipling Books

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