Analysis of The Winners
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
("The Story of the Gadsbys")
What the moral? Who rides may read.
When the night is thick and the tracks are blind
A friend at a pinch is a friend, indeed,
But a fool to wait for the laggard behind.
Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
He travels the fastest who travels alone.
White hands cling to the tightened rein,
Slipping the spur from the booted heel,
Tenderest voices cry " Turn again!"
Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,
High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone--
He travels the fastest who travels alone.
One may fall but he falls by himself--
Falls by himself with himself to blame.
One may attain and to him is pelf--
Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.
Plunder of earth shall be all his own
Who travels the fastest and travels alone.
Wherefore the more ye be helpen-.en and stayed,
Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil,
Sing the heretical song I have made--
His be the labour and yours be the spoil.
Win by his aid and the aid disown--
He travels the fastest who travels alone!
Scheme | x xaxabB xcxcbB dedebb fgfgbB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 010101 10101111 1011100111 0110110101 10111101001 11111101 11001011001 11110101 100110101 1101101 1110011 11110111 11001011001 111111101 110110111 110101111 110100111 101111111 11001001001 101111101 1101001011 1001001111 110101101 111100101 11001011001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 976 |
Words | 193 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 25 |
Letters per line (avg) | 31 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 153 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 38 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 04, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 1,243 Views
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