Analysis of Azrael's Count
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Lo! The Wild Cow of the Desert, her yeanling estrayed from her --
Lost in the wind-plaited sand-dunes -- athirst in the maze of them.
Hot-foot she follows those foot-prints -- the thrice-tangled ways of them.
Her soul is shut save to one thing -- the love-quest consuming her
Fearless she lows past the camp, our fires affright her not.
Ranges she close to the to the tethered ones -- the mares by the lances held.
Noses she softly apart the veil in the women's tent.
Next -- withdrawn under moonlight, a shadow afar off --
Fades. Ere men cry, "Hold her fast! darkness recovers her.
She the all-crazed and forlorn, when the dogs threaten her,
Only a side-tossed horn, as though a fly troubled her,
Shows she hath heard, till a lance in the heart of her quivereth.
-- Lo, from that carcass aheap -- where speeds the soul of it?
Where is the tryst it must keep? Who is her pandar? Death!
Men I dismiss to the Mercy greet me not willingly;
Crying, "When seekest Thou me first? Are not my kin unslain?
Shrinking aside from the Sword-edge, blinking the glare of it,
Shrinking the chin in the neck-bone. How shall that profit them?
Yet, among women a thousand, few meet me otherwise.
Yet, among women a thousand, one comes to me mistress-wise.
Arms open, breasts open, mouth open -- hot is her need on her.
Crying, "Ho, Servant, aquit me, the bound by Love's promises!
Haste Thou! He Waits! I would go! Handle me lustily!
Lo! her eyes stare past my wings, as things unbeheld by her.
Lo! her lips summoning part. I am not whom she calls!
Lo! My sword sinks and returns. At no time she heedeth it,
More than the dust of a journey, her garments brushed clear of it.
Lo! Ere the blood-gush has ceased, forward her soul rushes.
She is away to her tryst. Who is her pandar? Death!
Scheme | ABBAXXXXAAACDC EXDBF FAGEAX DDGC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011101001110 10011011100111 111101110110111 011111110110100 10111011010101 10111010101011011 10110010100101 10110101011 1111101100100 1011001101100 1001111101100 1111101001101 111101110111 110111111011 11011010111100 101111111111 10011011100111 10010011111101 1011001011110 101100101111101 110110110110110 10110110111100 11111111011 101111111110 1011001111111 1111001111111 110110100101111 1101111100110 110110111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,758 |
Words | 329 |
Sentences | 40 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 5, 6, 4 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 46 |
Words per line (avg) | 12 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 335 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 84 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 1:39 min read
- 118 Views
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