Analysis of The Ballad of Bolivar
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Seven men from all the world, back to Docks again,
Rolling down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising Cain:
Give the girls another drink 'fore we sign away --
We that took the ~Bolivar~ out across the Bay!
We put out from Sunderland loaded down with rails;
We put back to Sunderland 'cause our cargo shifted;
We put out from Sunderland -- met the winter gales --
Seven days and seven nights to the Start we drifted.
Racketing her rivets loose, smoke-stack white as snow,
All the coals adrift adeck, half the rails below,
Leaking like a lobster-pot, steering like a dray --
Out we took the ~Bolivar~, out across the Bay!
One by one the Lights came up, winked and let us by;
Mile by mile we waddled on, coal and fo'c'sle short;
Met a blow that laid us down, heard a bulkhead fly;
Left the ~Wolf~ behind us with a two-foot list to port.
Trailing like a wounded duck, working out her soul;
Clanging like a smithy-shop after every roll;
Just a funnel and a mast lurching through the spray --
So we threshed the ~Bolivar~ out across the Bay!
'Felt her hog and felt her sag, betted when she'd break;
Wondered every time she raced if she'd stand the shock;
Heard the seas like drunken men pounding at her strake;
Hoped the Lord 'ud keep his thumb on the plummer-block.
Banged against the iron decks, bilges choked with coal;
Flayed and frozen foot and hand, sick of heart and soul;
Last we prayed she'd buck herself into judgment Day --
Hi! we cursed the ~Bolivar~ knocking round the Bay!
O her nose flung up to sky, groaning to be still --
Up and down and back we went, never time for breath;
Then the money paid at Lloyd's caught her by the heel,
And the stars ran round and round dancin' at our death.
Aching for an hour's sleep, dozing off between;
'Heard the rotten rivets draw when she took it green;
'Watched the compass chase its tail like a cat at play --
That was on the ~Bolivar~, south across the Bay.
Once we saw between the squalls, lyin' head to swell --
Mad with work and weariness, wishin' they was we --
Some damned Liner's lights go by like a long hotel;
Cheered her from the ~Bolivar~ swampin' in the sea.
Then a grayback cleared us out, then the skipper laughed;
"Boys, the wheel has gone to Hell -- rig the winches aft!
Yoke the kicking rudder-head -- get her under way!"
So we steered her, pulley-haul, out across the Bay!
Just a pack o' rotten plates puttied up with tar,
In we came, an' time enough, 'cross Bilbao Bar.
Overloaded, undermanned, meant to founder, we
Euchred God Almighty's storm, bluffed the Eternal Sea!
Seven men from all the world, back to town again,
Rollin' down the Ratcliffe Road drunk and raising Cain:
Seven men from out of Hell. Ain't the owners gay,
'Cause we took the "Bolivar" safe across the Bay?
Scheme | ABCC DEDEFFCC GHGHIICC JKJKIICC XLXLMMCC NONOPPCC QQOO ABCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101110111101 101010110101 101010111101 111010010101 111110010111 1111100110110 111110010101 1010101101110 1010111111 10101110101 101010110101 111010010101 111011110111 1111111011 10111111011 1010111011111 101010110101 101011101001 101000110101 111010010101 10101011111 1010011111101 101110110101 101111110101 10101011111 101010111101 111110101101 111010010101 101111110111 101011110111 101011110101 001110111101 101110110101 101010111111 101011110111 111010010101 11101011111 11101001111 111011110101 10101001001 10111110101 10111111011 101010110101 111010110101 10111011111 01111011011 1001011101 10111100101 101110111101 101010110101 101111110101 111010010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,839 |
Words | 510 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 40 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 261 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:35 min read
- 143 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Ballad of Bolivar" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33359/the-ballad-of-bolivar>.
Discuss this Rudyard Kipling poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In