Analysis of Fox-Hunting
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
THE FOX MEDITATES
When Samson set my brush afire
To spoil the Timnites barley,
I made my point for Leicestershire
And left Philistia early.
Through Gath and Rankesborough Gorse I fled,
And took the Coplow Road, sir!
And was a Gentleman in Red
When all the Quorn wore woad, sir!
When Rome lay massed on Hadrian's Wall,
And nothing much was doing,
Her bored Centurions heard my call
O' nights when I went wooing.
They raised a pack-they ran it well
(For I was there to run 'em)
From Aesica to Carter Fell,
And down North Tyne to Hunnum.
When William, landed hot for blood,
And Harold's hosts were smitten,
I lay at earth in Battle Wood
While Domesday Book was written.
Whatever harm he did to man,
I owe him pure affection;
For in his righteous reign began
The first of Game Protection.
When Charles, my namesake, lost his mask,
And Oliver dropped his'n,
I found those Northern Squires a task,
To keep 'em out of prison.
In boots as big as milking-pails,
With holsters on the pommel,
They chevied me across the Dales
Instead of fighting Cromwell.
When thrifty Walpole took the helm,
And hedging came in fashion,
The March of Progress gave my realm
Enclosure and Plantation.
'Twas then, to soothe their discontent,
I showed each pounded Master,
However fast the Commons went,
I went a little faster!
When Pigg and Jorrocks held the stage,
And Steam had linked the Shires,
I broke the staid Victorian age
To posts, and rails, and wires.
Then fifty mile was none too far
To go by train to cover,
Till some dam' sutler pupped a car,
And decent sport was over!
When men grew shy of hunting stag,
For fear the Law might try 'em,
The Car put up an average bag
Of twenty dead per diem.
Then every road was made a rink
For Coroners to sit on;
And so began, in skid and stink,
The real blood-sport of Britain!
Scheme | A BCBCDEDE FGFGHIHI XJXJKJKJ LXLJAMAM NJNJOEOE PAPAQEQE RIRXSXSJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011 11011101 110110 111111 01010010 1101111 010111 01010001 1101111 111111001 0101110 011111 1111110 11011111 1111111 111101 011111 11010111 0101010 11110101 111110 1011111 1111010 10110101 0111010 1111111 0100111 111101001 1111110 01111101 111010 1110101 0111010 1101101 0101010 0111111 010010 11111001 1111010 1010101 1101010 1101101 011101 110101001 1101010 11011111 1111110 1111101 0101110 11111101 1101111 011111001 110111 110011101 1100111 01010101 0111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,786 |
Words | 333 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 57 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 175 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 41 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 211 Views
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"Fox-Hunting" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33213/fox-hunting>.
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