Analysis of Covenant
Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London)
We thought we ranked above the chance of ill.
Others might fall, not we, for we were wise--
Merchants in freedom. So, of our free-will
We let our servants drug our strength with lies.
The pleasure and the poison had its way
On us as on the meanest, till we learned
That he who lies will steal, who steals will slay.
Neither God's judgment nor man's heart was turned.
Yet there remains His Mercy--to be sought
Through wrath and peril till we cleanse the wrong
By that last right which our forefathers claimed
When their Law failed them and its stewards were bought.
This is our cause. God help us, and make strong
Our will to meet Him later, unashamed!
Scheme | ABABCDCD XEFXEF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010111 1011111101 10010111011 111010110111 0100010111 1111010111 1111111111 1011011111 1101110111 1101011101 1111110101 11111011001 11101111011 1011111001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 646 |
Words | 122 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 255 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 144 Views
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"Covenant" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/33183/covenant>.
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