Brookland Road
I was very well pleased with what I knowed,I reckoned myself no fool--Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road,That turned me back to school.
Low down--low down!Where the liddle green lanterns shine--O maids, I've done with 'ee all but one,And she can never be mine!
'Twas right in the middest of a hot June night,With thunder duntin' round,And I see'd her face by the fairy lightThat beats from off the ground.
She only smiled and she never spoke,She smiled and went away;But when she'd gone my heart was broke,And my wits was clean astray.
O stop your ringing and let me be--Let be, O Brookland bells!You'll ring Old Goodman out of the sea,Before I wed one else!
Old Goodman's Farm is rank sea-sand,And was this thousand year:But it shall turn to rich plough landBefore I change my dear.
O, Fairfield Church is water-boundFrom autumn to the spring;But it shall turn to high hill groundBefore my bells do ring.
O, leave me walk on the Brookland Road,In the thunder and warm rain--O, leave me look where my love goed,And p'raps I'll see her again!
Low down--low down!Where the liddle green lanterns shine--O maids, I've done with 'ee all but one,And she can never be mine!
Words in this poem
- middest a.
- Situated most nearly in the middle; middlemost; midmost. [See Midst.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- goodman n.
- A familiar appellation of civility, equivalent to [Good + man]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Brookland Road 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, Brookland Road, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/brookland-road.html, id L20281.
Form and metre
Brookland Road is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 9 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 knowedA · foolB · roadA · schoolB
- 2 -A-A down · shineA · one · mineA
- 3 ABAB nightA · roundB · lightA · groundB
- 4 ABAB spokeA · awayB · brokeA · astrayB
- 5 A-A- beA · bells · seaA · else
- 6 ABAB sandA · yearB · landA · dearB
- 7 ABAB boundA · springB · groundA · ringB
- 8 -A-A road · rainA · goed · againA
- 9 -A-A down · shineA · one · mineA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I was very well pleased with what I knowed, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| I reckoned myself no fool-- | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road, | 11 | ··········· |
| That turned me back to school. | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Low down--low down! | 4 | ···· |
| Where the liddle green lanterns shine-- | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| O maids, I've done with 'ee all but one, | 9 | ········· |
| And she can never be mine! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| 'Twas right in the middest of a hot June night, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| With thunder duntin' round, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And I see'd her face by the fairy light | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That beats from off the ground. | 6 | ······ |
| She only smiled and she never spoke, | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| She smiled and went away; | 7 | ··˘··˘/ |
| But when she'd gone my heart was broke, | 8 | ········ |
| And my wits was clean astray. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| O stop your ringing and let me be-- | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Let be, O Brookland bells! | 6 | ······ |
| You'll ring Old Goodman out of the sea, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Before I wed one else! | 6 | ······ |
| Old Goodman's Farm is rank sea-sand, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And was this thousand year: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But it shall turn to rich plough land | 8 | ········ |
| Before I change my dear. | 6 | ······ |
| O, Fairfield Church is water-bound | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| From autumn to the spring; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But it shall turn to high hill ground | 8 | ········ |
| Before my bells do ring. | 6 | ······ |
| O, leave me walk on the Brookland Road, | 9 | ········· |
| In the thunder and warm rain-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| O, leave me look where my love goed, | 8 | ········ |
| And p'raps I'll see her again! | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Low down--low down! | 4 | ···· |
| Where the liddle green lanterns shine-- | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| O maids, I've done with 'ee all but one, | 9 | ········· |
| And she can never be mine! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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