Analysis of The Plea of the Simla Dancers
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
Too late, alas! the song
To remedy the wrong; --
The rooms are taken from us, swept and
garnished for their fate.
But these tear-besprinkled pages
Shall attest to future ages
That we cried against the crime of it --
too late, alas! too late!
"What have we ever done to bear this grudge?"
Was there no room save only in Benmore
For docket, duftar, and for office drudge,
That you usurp our smoothest dancing floor?
Must babus do their work on polished teak?
Are ball-rooms fittest for the ink you spill?
Was there no other cheaper house to seek?
You might have left them all at Strawberry Hill.
We never harmed you! Innocent our guise,
Dainty our shining feet, our voices low;
And we revolved to divers melodies,
And we were happy but a year ago.
To-night, the moon that watched our lightsome wiles --
That beamed upon us through the deodars --
Is wan with gazing on official files,
And desecrating desks disgust the stars.
Nay! by the memory of tuneful nights --
Nay! by the witchery of flying feet --
Nay! by the glamour of foredone delights --
By all things merry, musical, and meet --
By wine that sparkled, and by sparkling eyes --
By wailing waltz -- by reckless gallop's strain --
By dim verandas and by soft replies,
Give us our ravished ball-room back again!
Or -- hearken to the curse we lay on you!
The ghosts of waltzes shall perplex your brain,
And murmurs of past merriment pursue
Your 'wildered clerks that they indite in vain;
And when you count your poor Provincial millions,
The only figures that your pen shall frame
Shall be the figures of dear, dear cotillions
Danced out in tumult long before you came.
Yea! "See Saw" shall upset your estimates,
"Dream Faces" shall your heavy heads bemuse,
Because your hand, unheeding, desecrates
Our temple; fit for higher, worthier use.
And all the long verandas, eloquent
With echoes of a score of Simla years,
Shall plague you with unbidden sentiment --
Babbling of kisses, laughter, love, and tears.
So shall you mazed amid old memories stand,
So shall you toil, and shall accomplish nought,
And ever in your ears a phantom Band
Shall blare away the staid official thought.
Wherefore -- and ere this awful curse he spoken,
Cast out your swarthy sacrilegious train,
And give -- ere dancing cease and hearts be broken --
Give us our ravished ball-room back again!
Scheme | aabcddxc efefghgh ijxjkdkx lmlminiO pnpnxqdq xxxxrxrx sbsxtntO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101 110001 011101110 10111 111110 10111010 111010111 110111 1111011111 111111001 110101101 1111010101 111111101 1111010111 1111010111 1111111101 11011100101 101010110101 0101110100 0101010101 1101111011 11011101 1111010101 0110101 1101001101 11011101 110101101 1111010001 1111001101 110111011 1101001101 1110111101 111011111 0111010111 01011101 111110101 01111101010 0101011111 110101111 1101010111 1111011100 1101110101 01111001 101011101001 0101010100 110101111 11111100 10011010101 11110111001 1111010101 0100110101 1101010101 1011101110 111100101 01110101110 1110111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,275 |
Words | 416 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 258 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 59 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:04 min read
- 146 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"The Plea of the Simla Dancers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33523/the-plea-of-the-simla-dancers>.
Discuss this Rudyard Kipling poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In