Analysis of Gethsemane

Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)



The Garden called Gethsemane
In Picardy it was,
And there the people came to see
The English soldiers pass.
We used to pass -- we used to pass
Or halt, as it might be,
And ship our masks in case of gas
Beyond Gethsemane.

The Garden called Gethsemane,
It held a pretty lass,
But all the time she talked to me
I prayed my cup might pass.
The officer sat on the chair,
The men lay on the grass,
And all the time we halted there
I prayed my cup might pass.

It didn't pass -- it didn't pass --
It didn't pass from me.
I drank it when we met the gas
Beyond Gethsemane.


Scheme AxbccbcA AcbCdcdC cbcA
Poetic Form Etheree  (30%)
Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 01011 0111 01010111 010101 11111111 111111 011010111 011 01011 110101 11011111 111111 01001101 011101 01011101 111111 11011101 110111 11111101 011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 558
Words 118
Sentences 7
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 142
Words per stanza (avg) 38
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 16, 2023

36 sec read
164

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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