White Horses
Where run your colts at pasture?Where hide your mares to breed?’Mid bergs about the Ice-capOr wove Sargasso weed;By chartless reef and channel,Or crafty coastwise bars,But most the ocean-meadowsAll purple to the stars!
Who holds the rein upon you?The latest gale let free.What meat is in your mangers?The glut of all the sea.’Twixt tide and tide’s returningGreat store of newly dead,--The bones of those that faced us,And the hearts of those that fled.
Afar, off-shore and single,Some stallion, rearing swift,Neighs hungry for new fodder,And calls us to the drift.Then down the cloven ridges--A million hooves unshod--Break forth the mad White HorsesTo seek their meat from God!
Girth-deep in hissing waterOur furious vanguard strains--Through mist of mighty tramplingsRoll up the fore-blown manes--A hundred leagues to leeward,Ere yet the deep is stirred,The groaning rollers carryThe coming of the herd!
Whose hand may grip your nostrils--Your forelock who may hold?E’en they that use the broads with us--The riders bred and bold,That spy upon our matings,That rope us where we run--They know the strong White HorsesFrom father unto son.
We breathe about their cradles,We race their babes ashore,We snuff against their thresholds,We nuzzle at their door;By day with stamping squadrons,By night in whinnying droves,Creep up the wise White Horses,To call them from their loves.
And come they for your calling?No wit of man may save.They hear the loosed White HorsesAbove their father’s grave;And, kin of those we crippled,And, sons of those we slew,Spur down the wild white ridersTo school the herds anew.
What service have ye paid them,Oh jealous steeds and strong?Save we that throw their weaklings,Is none dare work them wrong;While thick around the homesteadOur snow-backed leaders graze--A guard behind their plunder,And a veil before their ways.
With march and countermarchings--With weight of wheeling hosts--Stray mob or bands embattled--We ring the chosen coasts:And, careless of our clamourThat bids the stranger fly,At peace within our picketsThe wild white riders lie.
Trust ye the curdled hollows--Trust ye the neighing wind--Trust ye the moaning groundswell--Our herds are close behind!To bray your foeman’s armies--To chill and snap his sword--Trust ye the wild White Horses,The Horses of the Lord!
Words in this poem
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- sargasso n.
- The gulf weed. See under Gulf. Sargasso Sea, a large tract of the North Atlantic Ocean where sargasso in great abundance floats on the surface. [Sp. sargazo seaweed.]
- chartless a.
- Without a chart; having no guide.
- coastwise adv.
- By way of, or along, the coast.
- 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.]
- stallion n.
- A male horse not castrated; a male horse kept for breeding. [OE. stalon, OF. estalon, F. étalon, fr. OHG. stal a stable. See Stall, n.]
- vanguard n.
- The troops who march in front of an army; the advance guard; the van. [For vantguard, avantguard, F. avant-garde; avant before, fore + garde guard. See Avant, Ab-,Ante-, and Guard, and cf. Advance, Vamp, Van of an army, Vaward.]
- forelock n.
- The lock of hair that grows from the forepart of the head.
- nuzzle v. t.
- To noursle or nurse; to foster; to bring up. [See Noursle.]
- crippled a.
- Lamed; lame; disabled; impeded.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- embattled a.
- Having indentations like a battlement.
- clamour n.
- A great outcry or vociferation; loud and continued shouting or exclamation. [OF. clamour, clamur, F. clameur, fr. L. clamor, fr. clamare to cry out. See Claim.]
- bray v. t.
- To pound, beat, rub, or grind small or fine. [OE. brayen, OF. breier, F. broyer to pound, grind, fr. OHG. brehhan to break. See Break.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
White Horses 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, White Horses, in The Five Nations, Volume I (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60260, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-five-nations-1/white-horses.html, id L20227.
Form and metre
White Horses is 80 lines in 10 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 -A-A-B-B pasture · breedA · cap · weedA · channel · barsB · meadows · starsB
- 2 -A-A-B-B you · freeA · mangers · seaA · returning · deadB · us · fledB
- 3 -A-A-B-B single · swiftA · fodder · driftA · ridges · unshodB · horses · godB
- 4 -A-ABB-B water · strainsA · tramplings · manesA · leewardB · stirredB · carry · herdB
- 5 -A-A-B-B nostrils · holdA · us · boldA · matings · runB · horses · sonB
- 6 -A-A---- cradles · ashoreA · thresholds · doorA · squadrons · droves · horses · loves
- 7 -A-A-B-B calling · saveA · horses · graveA · crippled · slewB · riders · anewB
- 8 -A-A-B-B them · strongA · weaklings · wrongA · homestead · grazeB · plunder · waysB
- 9 -A-A-B-B countermarchings · hostsA · embattled · coastsA · clamour · flyB · pickets · lieB
- 10 -A-A-B-B hollows · windA · groundswell · behindA · armies · swordB · horses · lordB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where run your colts at pasture? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Where hide your mares to breed? | 6 | ······ |
| ’Mid bergs about the Ice-cap | 7 | ······· |
| Or wove Sargasso weed; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| By chartless reef and channel, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Or crafty coastwise bars, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But most the ocean-meadows | 6 | ···//· |
| All purple to the stars! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who holds the rein upon you? | 7 | ······· |
| The latest gale let free. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What meat is in your mangers? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The glut of all the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| ’Twixt tide and tide’s returning | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Great store of newly dead,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The bones of those that faced us, | 7 | ······· |
| And the hearts of those that fled. | 7 | ······· |
| Afar, off-shore and single, | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Some stallion, rearing swift, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Neighs hungry for new fodder, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And calls us to the drift. | 6 | ······ |
| Then down the cloven ridges-- | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| A million hooves unshod-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Break forth the mad White Horses | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To seek their meat from God! | 6 | ······ |
| Girth-deep in hissing water | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Our furious vanguard strains-- | 6 | //˘/·· |
| Through mist of mighty tramplings | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Roll up the fore-blown manes-- | 6 | ······ |
| A hundred leagues to leeward, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Ere yet the deep is stirred, | 6 | ······ |
| The groaning rollers carry | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| The coming of the herd! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Whose hand may grip your nostrils-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Your forelock who may hold? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| E’en they that use the broads with us-- | 8 | ········ |
| The riders bred and bold, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| That spy upon our matings, | 7 | ····//˘ |
| That rope us where we run-- | 6 | ······ |
| They know the strong White Horses | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| From father unto son. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| We breathe about their cradles, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We race their babes ashore, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| We snuff against their thresholds, | 7 | ·····/· |
| We nuzzle at their door; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| By day with stamping squadrons, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| By night in whinnying droves, | 6 | ······ |
| Creep up the wise White Horses, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To call them from their loves. | 6 | ······ |
| And come they for your calling? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| No wit of man may save. | 6 | ······ |
| They hear the loosed White Horses | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Above their father’s grave; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, kin of those we crippled, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And, sons of those we slew, | 6 | ······ |
| Spur down the wild white riders | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To school the herds anew. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| What service have ye paid them, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Oh jealous steeds and strong? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Save we that throw their weaklings, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Is none dare work them wrong; | 6 | ······ |
| While thick around the homestead | 7 | ·····/· |
| Our snow-backed leaders graze-- | 6 | /··/˘· |
| A guard behind their plunder, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And a veil before their ways. | 7 | ······· |
| With march and countermarchings-- | 7 | ······· |
| With weight of wheeling hosts-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Stray mob or bands embattled-- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| We ring the chosen coasts: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And, careless of our clamour | 7 | ·/˘·//˘ |
| That bids the stranger fly, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| At peace within our pickets | 7 | ····//˘ |
| The wild white riders lie. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Trust ye the curdled hollows-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Trust ye the neighing wind-- | 6 | ······ |
| Trust ye the moaning groundswell-- | 7 | ···/˘/· |
| Our herds are close behind! | 6 | /····· |
| To bray your foeman’s armies-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| To chill and snap his sword-- | 6 | ······ |
| Trust ye the wild White Horses, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The Horses of the Lord! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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