Morning Song in the Jungle
One moment past our bodies castNo shadow on the plain;Now clear and black they stride our track,And we run home again.In morning hush, each rock and bushStands hard, and high, and raw:Then give the Call: 'Good rest to allThat keep the Jungle Law!'
Now horn and pelt our peoples meltIn covert to abide;Now, crouched and still, to cave and hillOur Jungle Barons glide.Now, stark and plain, Man's oxen strain,That draw the new-yoked plough;Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is redAbove the lit talao.
Ho! Get to lair! The sun's aflareBehind the breathing grass:And creaking through the young bambooThe warning whispers pass.By day made strange, the woods we rangeWith blinking eyes we scan;While down the skies the wild duck cries:'The Day--the Day to Man!'
The dew is dried that drenched our hide,Or washed about our way;And where we drank, the puddled bankIs crisping into clay.The traitor Dark gives up each markOf stretched or hooded claw;Then hear the Call: 'Good rest to allThat keep the Jungle Law!'
Words in this poem
- stride v. t.
- To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner. [AS. stridan to stride, to strive; akin to LG. striden, OFries. strida to strive, D. strijden to strive, to contend, G. streiten, OHG. stritan; of uncertain orig]
- jungle n.
- A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
- crouched a.
- Marked with the sign of the cross. Crouched friar. See Crutched friar, under Crutched.
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Morning Song in the Jungle 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, Morning Song in the Jungle, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/morning-song-in-the-jungle.html, id L20394.
Form and metre
Morning Song in the Jungle is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
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 cast · plainA · track · againA · bush · rawB · all · lawB
- 2 -A-A---- melt · abideA · hill · glideA · strain · plough · red · talao
- 3 -A-A-B-B aflare · grassA · bamboo · passA · range · scanB · cries · manB
- 4 -A-A-B-B hide · wayA · bank · clayA · mark · clawB · all · lawB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| One moment past our bodies cast | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| No shadow on the plain; | 6 | ·/···· |
| Now clear and black they stride our track, | 8 | ······/· |
| And we run home again. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In morning hush, each rock and bush | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Stands hard, and high, and raw: | 6 | ······ |
| Then give the Call: 'Good rest to all | 8 | ········ |
| That keep the Jungle Law!' | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Now horn and pelt our peoples melt | 8 | ····//˘· |
| In covert to abide; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Now, crouched and still, to cave and hill | 8 | ········ |
| Our Jungle Barons glide. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Now, stark and plain, Man's oxen strain, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That draw the new-yoked plough; | 6 | ······ |
| Now, stripped and dread, the dawn is red | 8 | ········ |
| Above the lit talao. | 6 | ······ |
| Ho! Get to lair! The sun's aflare | 8 | ········ |
| Behind the breathing grass: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And creaking through the young bamboo | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The warning whispers pass. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| By day made strange, the woods we range | 8 | ········ |
| With blinking eyes we scan; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| While down the skies the wild duck cries: | 8 | ········ |
| 'The Day--the Day to Man!' | 6 | ······ |
| The dew is dried that drenched our hide, | 8 | ······/· |
| Or washed about our way; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And where we drank, the puddled bank | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is crisping into clay. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The traitor Dark gives up each mark | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of stretched or hooded claw; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Then hear the Call: 'Good rest to all | 8 | ········ |
| That keep the Jungle Law!' | 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.