Analysis of The North Sea Patrol
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
1914-18 -- Sea Warfare
Where the East wind is brewed fresh and fresh every morning,
And the balmy night-breezes blow straight from the Pole,
I heard a Destroyer sing: "What an enjoya-
ble life does one lead on the North Sea Patrol!
"To blow things to bits is our business (and Fritz's),
Which means there are mine-fields wherever you stroll.
Unless you've particular wish to die quick, you'll a-
void steering close to the North Sea Patrol.
"We warn from disaster the mercantile master
Who takes in high Dudgeon our life-saving role,
For every one's grousing at Docking and Dowsing
The marks and the lights on the North Sea Patrol."
[Twelve verses omitted.]
So swept but surviving, half drowned but still driving
I watched her head out through the swell off the shoal,
And I heard her propellers roar- "Write to poor fellers
Who run such a Hell as the North Sea Patrol!"
Scheme | X ABXB CBXB XBAB X ABCB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11 10111110110010 001011011101 1100101111 11111101101 111111101001 11111101011 0110100111110 1101101101 11101001010 110110101101 1100110110010 01001101101 110010 111010111110 11011101101 0110010111110 11101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 862 |
Words | 158 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 114 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 48 sec read
- 177 Views
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