A British-Roman Song (A.D. 406)
My father's father saw it not,And I, belike, shall never come,To look on that so-holy spot--The very Rome--
Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,The equal work of Gods and Man,City beneath whose oldest height--The Race began!
Soon to send forth again a brood,Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood--In arduous things.
Strong heart with triple armour bound,Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,Age after Age, the Empire round--In us thy Sons.
Who, distant from the Seven Hills,Loving and serving much, requireThee--thee to guard 'gainst home-born ills,The Imperial Fire!
Words in this poem
- belike adv.
- It is likely or probably; perhaps. -- Be*like"ly, adv. [Pref. be- (for by) + like.]
- 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,]
- hardihood n.
- Boldness, united with firmness and constancy of mind; bravery; intrepidity; also, audaciousness; impudence. [Hardy + -hood.]
- arduous a.
- Steep and lofty, in a literal sense; hard to climb. [L. arduus steep, high; akin to Ir. ard high, height.]
- armour n.
- Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A British-Roman Song (A.D. 406) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs from Books, Project Gutenberg ebook #15529; 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, A British-Roman Song (A.D. 406), in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/a-british-roman-song-a-d-406.html, id L20331.
Form and metre
A British-Roman Song (A.D. 406) is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. 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 ABAB notA · comeB · spotA · romeB
- 2 ABAB mightA · manB · heightA · beganB
- 3 ABAB broodA · clingsB · hardihoodA · thingsB
- 4 ABAB boundA · runsB · roundA · sonsB
- 5 ABAB hillsA · requireB · illsA · fireB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| My father's father saw it not, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And I, belike, shall never come, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| To look on that so-holy spot-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The very Rome-- | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might, | 8 | ········ |
| The equal work of Gods and Man, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| City beneath whose oldest height-- | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The Race began! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Soon to send forth again a brood, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Unshakeable, we pray, that clings, | 8 | ˘/˘˘···· |
| To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood-- | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| In arduous things. | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| Strong heart with triple armour bound, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Age after Age, the Empire round-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In us thy Sons. | 4 | ···· |
| Who, distant from the Seven Hills, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Loving and serving much, require | 9 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Thee--thee to guard 'gainst home-born ills, | 8 | ········ |
| The Imperial Fire! | 7 | ·˘/˘˘/˘ |
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.