Analysis of The Bells and Queen Victoria
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
"Gay go up and gay go down
To ring the Bells of London Town."
When London Town's asleep in bed
You'll hear the Bells ring overhead.
In excelsis gloria!
Ringing for Victoria,
Ringing for their mighty mistress--ten years dead!
Here is more gain than Gloriana guessed--
Then Gloriana guessed or Indies bring--
Then golden Indies bring. A Queen confessed--
A Queen confessed that crowned her people King.
Her people King, and crowned a11 Kings above,
Above a11 Kings have crowned their Queen their love--
Have crowned their love their Queen, their Queen their love!
Denying her, we do ourselves deny,
Disowning her are we ourselves disowned.
Mirror was she of our fidelity,
And handmaid of our destiny enthroned;
The very marrow of Youth's dream, and still
Yoke-mate of wisest Age that worked her will!
Our fathers had declared to us her praise--
Her praise the years had proven past all speech.
And past all speech our loyal hearts always,
Always our hearts lay open, each to each--
Therefore men gave the treasure of their blood
To this one woman--for she understood!
Four o' the clock! Now all the world is still.
Oh, London Bells, to all the world declare
The Secret of the Empire--read who will!
The Glory of the People--touch who dare!
Power that has reached itself all kingly powers,
St. Margaret's: By love o'erpowered--
St. Martin's: By love o'erpowered--
St. Clement Danes: By love o'erpowered,
The greater power confers!
For we were hers, as she, as she was ours,
Bow Bells: And she was ours--
St. Paul's: And she was ours--
Westminister: And she was ours,
As we, even we, were hers!
As we were hers!
Scheme | AABBCCB DEDEFFFXXXBGG HIHIXX GJGJ KBBBK KKKKK K |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110111 11011101 11010101 11011101 01100 1010100 10111010111 111110101 101011101 1101010101 0101110101 0101010101 0101111111 1111111111 01001100101 101100101 10111100100 011101001 0101011101 1111011101 10101011101 0101110111 0111101011 1101110111 111010111 111101101 1101110111 1101110101 01010100111 0101010111 101110111010 1100111 110111 1101111 0101001 11001111110 1101110 1101110 101110 1110100 1100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,615 |
Words | 289 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 13, 6, 4, 5, 5, 1 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 177 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 185 Views
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"The Bells and Queen Victoria" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33374/the-bells-and-queen-victoria>.
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