Analysis of Half-Ballad of Waterval
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
(Non-commissioned Officers in Charge of Prisoners)
When by the labor of my 'ands
I've 'elped to pack a transport tight
With prisoners for foreign lands,
I ain't transported with delight.
I know it's only just an' right,
But yet it somehow sickens me,
For I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity.
Be'ind the pegged barb-wire strands,
Beneath the tall electric light,
We used to walk in bare-'ead bands,
Explainin' 'ow we lost our fight;
An' that is what they'll do to-night
Upon the steamer out at sea,
If I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity.
They'll never know the shame that brands--
Black shame no livin' down makes white--
The mockin' from the sentry-stands,
The women's laugh, the gaoler's spite.
We are too bloomin'-much polite,
But that is 'ow I'd 'ave us be . . .
Since I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity.
They'll get those draggin' days all right,
Spent as a foreigner commands,
An' 'orrors of the locked-up night,
With 'Ell's own thinkin' on their 'ands.
I'd give the gold o' twenty Rands
(If it was mine) to set 'em free
For I 'ave learned at Waterval
The meanin' of captivity!
Scheme | x ababbcDC ababbcdC ababbcdC babaacDC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010100011100 11010111 11110011 11001101 11010101 11110111 111111 111111 0110100 1011101 01010101 11110111 1111101 11111111 01010111 111111 0110100 11010111 1111111 0110101 0101011 1111101 11111111 111111 0110100 1111111 11010001 1110111 11110111 11011101 11111111 111111 0110100 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,110 |
Words | 199 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 171 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 236 Views
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"Half-Ballad of Waterval" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33230/half-ballad-of-waterval>.
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