Analysis of Things and the Man
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
(In Memoriam, Joseph Chamberlain)
"And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more." -- Genesis xxxvii. 5.
Oh ye who hold the written clue
To all save all unwritten things,
And, half a league behind, pursue
The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings,
Look! To your knee your baby brings
The oldest tale since Earth began --
The answer to your worryings:
"Once on a time there was a Man."
He, single-handed, met and slew
Magicians, Armies, Ogres, Kings.
He lonely 'mid his doubting crew --
"In all the loneliness of wings " --
He fed the flame, he filled the springs,
He locked the ranks, he launched the van
Straight at the grinning Teeth of Things.
"Once on a time there was a Man."
The peace of shocked Foundations flew
Before his ribald questionings.
He broke the Oracles in two,
And bared the paltry wires and strings.
He headed desert wanderings;
He led his soul, his cause, his clan
A little from the ruck of Things.
"Once on a time there was a Man."
Thrones, Powers, Dominions block the view
With episodes and underlings --
The meek historian deems them true
Nor heeds the song that Clio sings --
The simple central truth that stings
The mob to boo, the priest to ban;
Things never yet created things --
"Once on a time there was a Man."
A bolt is fallen from the blue.
A wakened realm full circle swings
Where Dothan's dreamer dreams anew
Of vast and farborne harvestings;
And unto him an Empire clings
That grips the purpose of his plan.
My Lords, how think you of these things?
Once -- in our time -- is there a Man?
Scheme | x a bcbccdcD bcbccdcD bcbccdcD acbccdcD bcbccdcd |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0110100 0101010111110011011011001 11110101 11110101 01010101 001011101 11111101 01011101 010111 11011101 11010101 0101011 11011101 01010011 11011101 11011101 11010111 11011101 01110101 01110100 11010001 010101001 11010100 11111111 01010111 11011101 1101101 1100100 010100111 11011101 01010111 01110111 11010101 11011101 01110101 0111101 1110101 11011 010111001 11010111 11111111 101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,636 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 172 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 13, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 74 Views
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"Things and the Man" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33614/things-and-the-man>.
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