The Destroyers
The strength of twice three thousand horseThat seek the single goal;The line that holds the rending course,The hate that swings the whole:The stripped hulls, slinking through the gloom,At gaze and gone again--The Brides of Death that wait the groom--The Choosers of the Slain!
Offshore where sea and skyline blendIn rain, the daylight dies;The sullen, shouldering swells attendNight and our sacrifice.Adown the stricken capes no flare--No mark on spit or bar,--Girdled and desperate we dareThe blindfold game of war.
Nearer the up-flung beams that spellThe council of our foes;Clearer the barking guns that tellTheir scattered flank to close.Sheer to the trap they crowd their wayFrom ports for this unbarred.Quiet, and count our laden prey,The convoy and her guard!
On shoal with scarce a foot below,Where rock and islet throng,Hidden and hushed we watch them throwTheir anxious lights along.Not here, not here your danger lies--(Stare hard, O hooded eyne!)Save where the dazed rock-pigeons riseThe lit cliffs give no sign.
Therefore--to break the rest ye seek,The Narrow Seas to clear--Hark to the siren’s whimpering shriek--The driven death is here!Look to your van a league away,--What midnight terror staysThe bulk that checks against the sprayHer crackling tops ablaze?
Hit, and hard hit! The blow went home,The muffled, knocking stroke--The steam that overruns the foam--The foam that thins to smoke--The smoke that clokes the deep aboil--The deep that chokes her throesTill, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil,The lukewarm whirlpools close!
A shadow down the sickened waveLong since her slayer fled:But hear their chattering quick-fires raveAstern, abeam, ahead!Panic that shells the drifting spar--Loud waste with none to check--Mad fear that rakes a scornful starOr sweeps a consort’s deck!
Now, while their silly smoke hangs thick,Now ere their wits they find,Lay in and lance them to the quick--Our gallied whales are blind!Good luck to those that see the end,Good-bye to those that drown--For each his chance as chance shall send--And God for all! Shut down!
The strength of twice three thousand horseThat serve the one command;The hand that heaves the headlong force,The hate that hacks the hand:The doom-bolt in the darkness freed,The mine that splits the main;The white-hot wake, the ’wildering speed--The Choosers of the Slain!
Words in this poem 24
- offshore a.
- From the shore; as, an offshore wind; an offshore signal.
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- blindfold v. t.
- To cover the eyes of, as with a bandage; to hinder from seeing. [OE. blindfolden, blindfelden, blindfellen; AS. blind blind + prob. fellan, fyllan, to fell, strike down.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
- convoy v. t.
- To accompany for protection, either by sea or land; to attend for protection; to escort; as, a frigate convoys a merchantman. [F. convoyer, OF. conveier, convoier. See Convey.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- islet n.
- A little island. [OF. islette (cf. F. îlot), dim. of isle.]
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- ablaze adv.
- On fire; in a blaze, gleaming. Milman. [Pref. a- + blaze.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- lukewarm a.
- Moderately warm; neither cold nor hot; tepid; not ardent; not zealous; cool; indifferent. [See Luke.]
- slayer n.
- One who slays; a killer; a murderer; a destrroyer of life.
- chattering n.
- The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.
- abeam adv.
- On the beam, that is, on a line which forms a right angle with the ship's keel; opposite to the center of the ship's side. [Pref. a- + beam.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- gallied p. p.
- Worried; flurried; frightened. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
- 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,]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
- wildering n.
- A plant growing in a state of nature; especially, one which has run wild, or escaped from cultivation.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Destroyers 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 Destroyers, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/the-destroyers.html, id L20226.
Form and metre
The Destroyers is 72 lines in 9 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 7 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 horseA · goalB · courseA · wholeB · gloomC · againD · groomC · slainD
- 2 A-A-B-B- blendA · dies · attendA · sacrifice · flareB · bar · dareB · war
- 3 ABABCDCD spellA · foesB · tellA · closeB · wayC · unbarredD · preyC · guardD
- 4 ABABC-C- belowA · throngB · throwA · alongB · liesC · eyne · riseC · sign
- 5 ABABCDCD seekA · clearB · shriekA · hereB · awayC · staysD · sprayC · ablazeD
- 6 ABABCDCD homeA · strokeB · foamA · smokeB · aboilC · throesD · oilC · closeD
- 7 ABABCDCD waveA · fledB · raveA · aheadB · sparC · checkD · starC · deckD
- 8 ABABCDCD thickA · findB · quickA · blindB · endC · drownD · sendC · downD
- 9 ABABCDCD horseA · commandB · forceA · handB · freedC · mainD · speedC · slainD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The strength of twice three thousand horse | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That seek the single goal; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The line that holds the rending course, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The hate that swings the whole: | 6 | ······ |
| The stripped hulls, slinking through the gloom, | 8 | ········ |
| At gaze and gone again-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The Brides of Death that wait the groom-- | 8 | ········ |
| The Choosers of the Slain! | 6 | ······ |
| Offshore where sea and skyline blend | 8 | //···/·· |
| In rain, the daylight dies; | 6 | ···/·· |
| The sullen, shouldering swells attend | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Night and our sacrifice. | 6 | ··//˘· |
| Adown the stricken capes no flare-- | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| No mark on spit or bar,-- | 6 | ······ |
| Girdled and desperate we dare | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| The blindfold game of war. | 6 | ·/···· |
| Nearer the up-flung beams that spell | 8 | /˘······ |
| The council of our foes; | 6 | ·/˘·/· |
| Clearer the barking guns that tell | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Their scattered flank to close. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Sheer to the trap they crowd their way | 8 | ········ |
| From ports for this unbarred. | 6 | ······ |
| Quiet, and count our laden prey, | 7 | /··//˘· |
| The convoy and her guard! | 6 | ·/···· |
| On shoal with scarce a foot below, | 8 | ········ |
| Where rock and islet throng, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Hidden and hushed we watch them throw | 8 | /˘······ |
| Their anxious lights along. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Not here, not here your danger lies-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (Stare hard, O hooded eyne!) | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Save where the dazed rock-pigeons rise | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The lit cliffs give no sign. | 6 | ······ |
| Therefore--to break the rest ye seek, | 8 | ········ |
| The Narrow Seas to clear-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Hark to the siren’s whimpering shriek-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The driven death is here! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Look to your van a league away,-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| What midnight terror stays | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| The bulk that checks against the spray | 8 | ········ |
| Her crackling tops ablaze? | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Hit, and hard hit! The blow went home, | 8 | ········ |
| The muffled, knocking stroke-- | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| The steam that overruns the foam-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The foam that thins to smoke-- | 6 | ······ |
| The smoke that clokes the deep aboil-- | 8 | ········ |
| The deep that chokes her throes | 6 | ······ |
| Till, streaked with ash and sleeked with oil, | 8 | ········ |
| The lukewarm whirlpools close! | 6 | ·///·· |
| A shadow down the sickened wave | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Long since her slayer fled: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But hear their chattering quick-fires rave | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| Astern, abeam, ahead! | 6 | ˘/˘/˘/ |
| Panic that shells the drifting spar-- | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Loud waste with none to check-- | 6 | ······ |
| Mad fear that rakes a scornful star | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or sweeps a consort’s deck! | 6 | ···˘/· |
| Now, while their silly smoke hangs thick, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Now ere their wits they find, | 6 | ······ |
| Lay in and lance them to the quick-- | 8 | ········ |
| Our gallied whales are blind! | 6 | //˘··· |
| Good luck to those that see the end, | 8 | ········ |
| Good-bye to those that drown-- | 6 | ······ |
| For each his chance as chance shall send-- | 8 | ········ |
| And God for all! Shut down! | 6 | ······ |
| The strength of twice three thousand horse | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That serve the one command; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The hand that heaves the headlong force, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The hate that hacks the hand: | 6 | ······ |
| The doom-bolt in the darkness freed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The mine that splits the main; | 6 | ······ |
| The white-hot wake, the ’wildering speed-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The Choosers of the Slain! | 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.