General Joubert (Died March 27, 1900)
With those that bred, with those that loosed the strife,He had no part whose hands were clear of gain;But subtle, strong, and stubborn, gave his lifeTo a lost cause, and knew the gift was vain.
Later shall rise a people, sane and great,Forged in strong fires, by equal war made one;Telling old battles over without hate--Not least his name shall pass from sire to son.
He may not meet the onsweep of our vanIn the doomed city when we close the score;Yet o’er his grave--his grave that holds a man--Our deep-tongued guns shall answer his once more!
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sane a.
- Being in a healthy condition; not deranged; acting rationally; -- said of the mind. [L. sanus; cf. Gr. Sound, a.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
General Joubert (Died March 27, 1900) is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Five Nations, Volume I, Project Gutenberg ebook #60260; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rudyard Kipling, General Joubert (Died March 27, 1900), in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/general-joubert-died-march-27-1900.html, id L20237.
Form and metre
General Joubert (Died March 27, 1900) is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB strifeA · gainB · lifeA · vainB
- 2 ABAB greatA · oneB · hateA · sonB
- 3 ABAB vanA · scoreB · manA · moreB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| With those that bred, with those that loosed the strife, | 10 | ·········· |
| He had no part whose hands were clear of gain; | 10 | ·········· |
| But subtle, strong, and stubborn, gave his life | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| To a lost cause, and knew the gift was vain. | 10 | ·········· |
| Later shall rise a people, sane and great, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Forged in strong fires, by equal war made one; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Telling old battles over without hate-- | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Not least his name shall pass from sire to son. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| He may not meet the onsweep of our van | 10 | ········/· |
| In the doomed city when we close the score; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Yet o’er his grave--his grave that holds a man-- | 10 | ·········· |
| Our deep-tongued guns shall answer his once more! | 10 | /····/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.