Analysis of The Overland Mail
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
(Foot-Service to the Hills)
In the name of the Empress of India, make way,
O Lords of the Jungle, wherever you roam.
The woods are astir at the close of the day --
We exiles are waiting for letters from Home.
Let the robber retreat -- let the tiger turn tail --
In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail!
With a jingle of bells as the dusk gathers in,
He turns to the foot-path that heads up the hill --
The bags on his back and a cloth round his chin,
And, tucked in his waist-belt, the Post Office bill:
"Despatched on this date, as received by the rail,
Per runner, two bags of the Overland Mail."
Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim.
Has the rain wrecked the road? He must climb by the cliff.
Does the tempest cry "Halt"? What are tempests to him?
The Service admits not a "but" or and "if."
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail,
In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir,
From level to upland, from upland to crest,
From rice-field to rock-ridge, from rock-ridge to spur,
Fly the soft sandalled feet, strains the brawny brown chest.
From rail to ravine -- to the peak from the vale --
Up, up through the night goes the Overland Mail.
There's a speck on the hillside, a dot on the road --
A jingle of bells on the foot-path below --
There's a scuffle above in the monkey's abode --
The world is awake, and the clouds are aglow.
For the great Sun himself must attend to the hail:
"In the name of the Empress the Overland Mail!"
Scheme | x ababcC dedecc fgfgcC hihicc jkjkcC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 0011010110011 11101001011 0111101101 1111011011 101001101011 00110100101 101011101100 11101111101 01111001111 01011101101 1111101101 1101110101 101001111111 101101111101 10101111111 01001101101 101011111011 00110100101 1111111111 11011011011 11111111111 10111101011 11101101101 1110110101 10110101101 01011101101 10100100101 01101001101 101101101101 00110100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,496 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 190 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 49 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 446 Views
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"The Overland Mail" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33517/the-overland-mail>.
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