I Keep Six Honest...
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small-
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes-
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 547 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCDCD XACAXEAE XFCF |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 611 |
Words | 124 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 4 |
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"I Keep Six Honest..." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/33246/i-keep-six-honest...>.
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