The Bee Boy's Song
Bees! Bees! Hark to your bees!'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,But all that has happened, to us you must tell,Or else we will give you no honey to sell!'
A maiden in her glory,Upon her wedding-day,Must tell her Bees the story,Or else they'll fly away.Fly away--die away--Dwindle down and leave you!But if you don't deceive your Bees,Your Bees will not deceive you.
Marriage, birth or buryin',News across the seas,All you're sad or merry in,You must tell the Bees.Tell 'em coming in an' out,Where the Fanners fan,'Cause the Bees are just aboutAs curious as a man!
Don't you wait where trees are,When the lightnings play,Nor don't you hate where Bees are,Or else they'll pine away.Pine away--dwine away--Anything to leave you!But if you never grieve your Bees,Your Bees'll never grieve you.
Words in this poem
- dwindle v. i.
- To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away; to become degenerate; to fall away. [From OE. dwinen to languish, waste away, AS. dwinan; akin to LG. dwinen, D. dwijnen to vanish, Icel. dvina to cease, dwindle, Sw. tvina; of uncertain origin. Th]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bee Boy's Song 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, The Bee Boy's Song, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-bee-boy-s-song.html, id L20375.
Form and metre
The Bee Boy's Song is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 AABB beesA · pleaseA · tellB · sellB
- 2 ABABBC-C gloryA · dayB · storyA · awayB · awayB · youC · bees · youC
- 3 -ABACBCB buryin · seasA · inB · beesA · outC · fanB · aboutC · manB
- 4 ABABBC-C areA · playB · areA · awayB · awayB · youC · bees · youC
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Bees! Bees! Hark to your bees! | 6 | ······ |
| 'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But all that has happened, to us you must tell, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Or else we will give you no honey to sell!' | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| A maiden in her glory, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Upon her wedding-day, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Must tell her Bees the story, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Or else they'll fly away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Fly away--die away-- | 6 | ·˘/·˘/ |
| Dwindle down and leave you! | 6 | /˘···· |
| But if you don't deceive your Bees, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Your Bees will not deceive you. | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Marriage, birth or buryin', | 6 | /˘···· |
| News across the seas, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| All you're sad or merry in, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| You must tell the Bees. | 5 | ····· |
| Tell 'em coming in an' out, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the Fanners fan, | 5 | ····· |
| 'Cause the Bees are just about | 7 | ······· |
| As curious as a man! | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Don't you wait where trees are, | 6 | ······ |
| When the lightnings play, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Nor don't you hate where Bees are, | 7 | ······· |
| Or else they'll pine away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Pine away--dwine away-- | 6 | ·˘/·˘/ |
| Anything to leave you! | 6 | /˘···· |
| But if you never grieve your Bees, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Your Bees'll never grieve you. | 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.