The Burial
When that great Kings return to clay,Or Emperors in their pride,Grief of a day shall fill a day,Because its creature died.But we--we reckon not with thoseWhom the mere Fates ordain,This Power that wrought on us and goesBack to the Power again.
Dreamer devout, by vision ledBeyond our guess or reach,The travail of his spirit bredCities in place of speech.So huge the all-mastering thought that drove--So brief the term allowed--Nations, not words, he linked to proveHis faith before the crowd.
It is his will that he look forthAcross the world he won--The granite of the ancient North--Great spaces washed with sun.There shall he patient make his seat(As when the Death he dared),And there await a people’s feetIn the paths that he prepared.
There, till the vision he foresawSplendid and whole arise,And unimagined Empires drawTo council ’neath his skies,The immense and brooding Spirit stillShall quicken and control.Living he was the land, and dead,His soul shall be her soul!
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Burial 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, The Burial, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/the-burial.html, id L20236.
Form and metre
The Burial is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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 ABABCDCD clayA · prideB · dayA · diedB · thoseC · ordainD · goesC · againD
- 2 ABAB-C-C ledA · reachB · bredA · speechB · drove · allowedC · prove · crowdC
- 3 ABABCDCD forthA · wonB · northA · sunB · seatC · daredD · feetC · preparedD
- 4 ABAB-C-C foresawA · ariseB · drawA · skiesB · still · controlC · dead · soulC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When that great Kings return to clay, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Or Emperors in their pride, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Grief of a day shall fill a day, | 8 | ········ |
| Because its creature died. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But we--we reckon not with those | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whom the mere Fates ordain, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| This Power that wrought on us and goes | 8 | ·/······ |
| Back to the Power again. | 6 | ···/˘/ |
| Dreamer devout, by vision led | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| Beyond our guess or reach, | 6 | ··/··· |
| The travail of his spirit bred | 7 | ·˘/··/· |
| Cities in place of speech. | 6 | /˘···· |
| So huge the all-mastering thought that drove-- | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| So brief the term allowed-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Nations, not words, he linked to prove | 8 | /˘······ |
| His faith before the crowd. | 6 | ······ |
| It is his will that he look forth | 8 | ········ |
| Across the world he won-- | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The granite of the ancient North-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Great spaces washed with sun. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There shall he patient make his seat | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (As when the Death he dared), | 6 | ······ |
| And there await a people’s feet | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| In the paths that he prepared. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| There, till the vision he foresaw | 8 | ···/˘··/ |
| Splendid and whole arise, | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| And unimagined Empires draw | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| To council ’neath his skies, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The immense and brooding Spirit still | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/· |
| Shall quicken and control. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Living he was the land, and dead, | 8 | /˘······ |
| His soul shall be her soul! | 6 | ······ |
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.