Analysis of The Choice (The American Spirit Speaks)
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
To the Judge of Right and Wrong
With Whom fulfillment lies
Our purpose and our power belong,
Our faith and sacrifice.
Let Freedom's land rejoice!
Our ancient bonds are riven;
Once more to us the eternal choice
Of good or ill is given.
Not at a little cost,
Hardly by prayer or tears,
Shall we recover the road we lost
In the drugged and doubting years,
But after the fires and the wrath,
But after searching and pain,
His Mercy opens us a path
To live with ourselves again.
In the Gates of Death rejoice!
We see and hold the good-
Bear witness, Earth, we have made our choice
For Freedom's brotherhood.
Then praise the Lord Most High
Whose Strength hath saved us whole,
Who bade us choose that the Flesh should die
And not the living Soul!
Scheme | AXAX BCBC XXXX DXDX BEBE FGFG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (50%) |
Metre | 1011101 110101 10100101001 101010 110101 10101110 111100101 1111110 110101 101111 110100111 0010101 110010001 1101001 11010101 11100101 0011101 110101 1101111101 11010 110111 111111 111110111 010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 724 |
Words | 140 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 293 Views
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"The Choice (The American Spirit Speaks)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33392/the-choice-%28the-american-spirit-speaks%29>.
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