Pigs and Buffaloes
The beasts are very wise,Their mouths are clean of lies,They talk one to the other,Bullock to bullock's brotherResting after their labours,Each in stall with his neighbours.But man with goad and whip,Breaks up their fellowship,Shouts in their silky earsFilling their souls with fears.When he has ploughed the land,He says: 'They understand.'But the beasts in stall together,Freed from the yoke and tether,Say as the torn flanks smoke:'Nay, 'twas the whip that spoke.'
Words in this poem
- bullock n.
- A young bull, or any male of the ox kind. [AS. bulluc a young bull. See Bull.]
- tether n.
- A long rope or chain by which an animal is fastened, as to a stake, so that it can range or feed only within certain limits. [Formerly tedder, OE. tedir; akin to LG. tider, tier, Icel. tjo, Dan. töir. *64.]
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pigs and Buffaloes 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, Pigs and Buffaloes, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/pigs-and-buffaloes.html, id L20349.
Form and metre
Pigs and Buffaloes is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH wiseA · liesA · otherB · brotherB · laboursC · neighboursC · whipD · fellowshipD · earsE · fearsE · landF · understandF · togetherG · tetherG · smokeH · spokeH
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The beasts are very wise, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Their mouths are clean of lies, | 6 | ······ |
| They talk one to the other, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Bullock to bullock's brother | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Resting after their labours, | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Each in stall with his neighbours. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But man with goad and whip, | 6 | ······ |
| Breaks up their fellowship, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Shouts in their silky ears | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Filling their souls with fears. | 6 | /˘···· |
| When he has ploughed the land, | 6 | ······ |
| He says: 'They understand.' | 6 | ····˘/ |
| But the beasts in stall together, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Freed from the yoke and tether, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Say as the torn flanks smoke: | 6 | ······ |
| 'Nay, 'twas the whip that spoke.' | 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.