Analysis of The Ballad of the Red Earl
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
It is not for them to criticize too minutely the methods the Irish followed, though they might deplore some of their results. During the past few years Ireland had been going through what was tantamount to a revolution. -- EARL SPENCER
Red Earl, and will ye take for guide
The silly camel-birds,
That ye bury your head in an Irish thorn,
On a desert of drifting words?
Ye have followed a man for a God, Red Earl,
As the Lord o' Wrong and Right;
But the day is done with the setting sun
Will ye follow into the night?
He gave you your own old words, Red Earl,
For food on the wastrel way;
Will ye rise and eat in the night, Red Earl,
That fed so full in the day?
Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far,
And where did the wandering lead?
From the day that ye praised the spoken word
To the day ye must gloss the deed.
And as ye have given your hand for gain,
So must ye give in loss;
And as ye ha' come to the brink of the pit,
So must ye loup across.
For some be rogues in grain, Red Earl,
And some be rogues in fact,
And rogues direct and rogues elect;
But all be rogues in pact.
Ye have cast your lot with these, Red Earl;
Take heed to where ye stand.
Ye have tied a knot with your tongue, Red Earl,
That ye cannot loose with your hand.
Ye have travelled fast, ye have travelled far,
In the grip of a tightening tether,
Till ye find at the end ye must take for friend
The quick and their dead together.
Ye have played with the Law between your lips,
And mouthed it daintilee;
But the gist o' the speech is ill to teach,
For ye say: "Let wrong go free."
Red Earl, ye wear the Garter fair,
And gat your place from a King:
Do ye make Rebellion of no account,
And Treason a little thing?
And have ye weighed your words, Red Earl,
That stand and speak so high?
And is it good that the guilt o' blood,
Be cleared at the cost of a sigh?
And is it well for the sake of peace,
Our tattered Honour to sell,
And higgle anew with a tainted crew --
Red Earl, and is it well?
Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far,
On a dark and doubtful way,
And the road is hard, is hard, Red Earl,
And the price is yet to pay.
Ye shall pay that price as ye reap reward
For the toil of your tongue and pen --
In the praise of the blamed and the thanks of the shamed,
And the honour o' knavish men.
They scarce shall veil their scorn, Red Earl,
And the worst at the last shall be,
When you tell your heart that it does not know
And your eye that it does not see.
Scheme | a xbxb cdxd cece Fxxx xgxg chxh cici faxa xcxj xkxk clxl xmxm Fece xnxn cjxj |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111110110001001010111011110110011110011101111010010110 11011111 010101 11101101101 10101101 11100110111 1011101 1011110101 11100101 111111111 111011 1110100111 1111001 1110111101 01101001 1011110101 10111101 0111101111 111101 01111101101 111101 11110111 011101 01010101 111101 111111111 111111 1110111111 11101111 1110111101 0011010010 11110111111 01011010 1111010111 0111 1011011111 1111111 11110101 0111101 1110101101 0100101 01111111 110111 011110111 11101101 011110111 1010111 010110101 110111 1110111101 1010101 001111111 0011111 1111111101 10111101 001101001101 001111 11111111 00110111 1111111111 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,392 |
Words | 501 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 61 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 116 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 2:30 min read
- 212 Views
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"The Ballad of the Red Earl" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33366/the-ballad-of-the-red-earl>.
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