Rimmon
Duly with knees that feign to quake--Bent head and shaded brow,--Yet once again, for my father’s sake,In Rimmon’s House I bow.
The curtains part, and the trumpet blares,And the eunuchs howl aloud;And the gilt, swag-bellied idol glaresInsolent over the crowd.
‘This is Rimmon, Lord of the Earth--‘Fear Him and bow the knee!’And I watch my comrades hide their mirthThat rode to the wars with me.
For we remember the sun and the sandAnd the rocks whereon we trod,Ere we came to a scorched and a scornful landThat did not know our God;
As we remember the sacrificeDead men an hundred laid--Slain while they served His mysteriesAnd that He would not aid.
Not though we gashed ourselves and wept,For the high-priest bade us wait;Saying He went on a journey or slept,Or was drunk or had taken a mate.
(Praise ye Rimmon, King of Kings,Who ruleth Earth and Sky!And again I bow as the censer swingsAnd the God Enthroned goes by.)
Ay, we remember His sacred arkAnd the virtuous men that kneltTo the dark and the hush behind the darkWherein we dreamed He dwelt;
Until we entered to hale Him out,And found no more than an oldUncleanly image girded aboutThe loins with scarlet and gold.
Him we o’erset with the butts of our spears--Him and His vast designs--To be the scorn of our muleteersAnd the jest of our halted lines.
By the picket-pins that the dogs defile,In the dung and the dust He lay,Till the priests ran and chattered awhileAnd wiped Him and took Him away.
Hushing the matter before it was known,They returned to our fathers afar,And hastily set Him afresh on His throneBecause He had won us the war.
Wherefore with knees that feign to quake--Bent head and shaded brow--To this dead dog, for my father’s sake,In Rimmon’s House I bow.
Words in this poem 15
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- swag v. i.
- To hang or move, as something loose and heavy; to sway; to swing. [Cf. Icel. sveggja, sveigja to bend, to sway, Norw. svaga to sway. See Sway.]
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- rode n.
- Redness; complexion. [See Rud.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- censer n.
- A vessel for perfumes; esp. one in which incense is burned. [For incenser, fr. OF. encensier, F. encensoir, fr. LL. incensarium, incensorium, fr. L. incensum incense. See Incense, and cf. Incensory.]
- virtuous a.
- Possessing or exhibiting virtue. Specifically: -- (a) Exhibiting manly courage and strength; valorous; valiant; brave. [OE. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuous, F. vertueux, fr. L. Virtuous. See Virtue, and cf. Virtuoso.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- hushing n.
- The process of washing ore, or of uncovering mineral veins, by a heavy discharge of water from a reservoir; flushing; -- also called booming.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- afresh adv.
- Anew; again; once more; newly. [Pref. a- + fresh.]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rimmon 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, Rimmon, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/rimmon.html, id L20248.
Form and metre
Rimmon is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 11 of its 13 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 quakeA · browB · sakeA · bowB
- 2 ABAB blaresA · aloudB · glaresA · crowdB
- 3 ABAB earthA · kneeB · mirthA · meB
- 4 ABAB sandA · trodB · landA · godB
- 5 -A-A sacrifice · laidA · mysteries · aidA
- 6 ABAB weptA · waitB · sleptA · mateB
- 7 ABAB kingsA · skyB · swingsA · byB
- 8 ABAB arkA · kneltB · darkA · dweltB
- 9 ABAB outA · oldB · aboutA · goldB
- 10 ABAB spearsA · designsB · muleteersA · linesB
- 11 ABAB defileA · layB · awhileA · awayB
- 12 A-A- knownA · afar · throneA · war
- 13 ABAB quakeA · browB · sakeA · bowB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Duly with knees that feign to quake-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| Bent head and shaded brow,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Yet once again, for my father’s sake, | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| In Rimmon’s House I bow. | 6 | ······ |
| The curtains part, and the trumpet blares, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| And the eunuchs howl aloud; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And the gilt, swag-bellied idol glares | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Insolent over the crowd. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| ‘This is Rimmon, Lord of the Earth-- | 8 | ········ |
| ‘Fear Him and bow the knee!’ | 6 | ······ |
| And I watch my comrades hide their mirth | 9 | ····/···· |
| That rode to the wars with me. | 7 | ······· |
| For we remember the sun and the sand | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And the rocks whereon we trod, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Ere we came to a scorched and a scornful land | 11 | ········/˘· |
| That did not know our God; | 6 | ····/· |
| As we remember the sacrifice | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| Dead men an hundred laid-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Slain while they served His mysteries | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And that He would not aid. | 6 | ······ |
| Not though we gashed ourselves and wept, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For the high-priest bade us wait; | 7 | ······· |
| Saying He went on a journey or slept, | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| Or was drunk or had taken a mate. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| (Praise ye Rimmon, King of Kings, | 7 | ······· |
| Who ruleth Earth and Sky! | 6 | ······ |
| And again I bow as the censer swings | 10 | ·˘/····/˘· |
| And the God Enthroned goes by.) | 7 | ······· |
| Ay, we remember His sacred ark | 9 | ··˘/˘·/˘· |
| And the virtuous men that knelt | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the dark and the hush behind the dark | 10 | ·········· |
| Wherein we dreamed He dwelt; | 6 | ······ |
| Until we entered to hale Him out, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And found no more than an old | 7 | ······· |
| Uncleanly image girded about | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| The loins with scarlet and gold. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Him we o’erset with the butts of our spears-- | 10 | ········/· |
| Him and His vast designs-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| To be the scorn of our muleteers | 9 | ·····/··· |
| And the jest of our halted lines. | 8 | ····//˘· |
| By the picket-pins that the dogs defile, | 10 | ··/˘····˘/ |
| In the dung and the dust He lay, | 8 | ········ |
| Till the priests ran and chattered awhile | 9 | ·····/˘˘/ |
| And wiped Him and took Him away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Hushing the matter before it was known, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| They returned to our fathers afar, | 9 | ·˘/·//˘˘/ |
| And hastily set Him afresh on His throne | 10 | ·/˘··˘/··· |
| Because He had won us the war. | 8 | ········ |
| Wherefore with knees that feign to quake-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| Bent head and shaded brow-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To this dead dog, for my father’s sake, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| In Rimmon’s House I bow. | 6 | ······ |
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