Analysis of Harp Song of the Dane Women
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
What is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre.
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
She has no house to lay a guest in
But one chill bed for all to rest in,
That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.
She has no strong white arms to fold you,
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you
Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.
Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,
And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,
Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken- -
Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters.
You steal away to the lapping waters,
And look at your ship in her winter-quarters.
You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,
The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables
To pitch her sides and go over her cables.
Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow,
And the sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow,
Is all we have left through the months to follow.
Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?
Scheme | aAA bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg aAA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011010 0011000110 1110111010 111111010 111111110 1011001110 111111111 10111001111 1101101111 110111010 0011001110 10111101010 10011010010 1101101010 01111001010 101101011010 010010010010 11010110010 1111101110 00111111010 11111101110 1111011010 0011000110 1110111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,046 |
Words | 200 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 21, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 227 Views
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