The Bricklayer
I tell this tale, which is strictly true,Just by way of convincing youHow very little, since things mere made,Things have altered in the building trade.
A year ago, come the middle of March,We was building flats near the Marble Arch,When a thin young man with coal-black hairCame up to watch us working there.
Now there wasn't a trick in brick or stoneThat this young man hadn't seen or known;Nor there wasn't a tool from trowel to maulBut this young man could use 'em all!
Then up and spoke the plumbyers bold,Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold:'Since you with us have made so free,Will you kindly say what your name might be?'
The young man kindly answered them:'It might be Lot or Methusalem,Or it might be Moses (a man I hate),Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great.
'Your glazing is new and your plumbing's strange,But otherwise I perceive no change,And in less than a month if you do as I bidI'd learn you to build me a Pyramid!'
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- whereas adv.
- At which place; where.
- pharaoh n.
- A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated. [Heb. paroh; of Egyptian origin: cf. L. pharao, Gr. Faro.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bricklayer 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 Bricklayer, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-bricklayer.html, id L20418.
Form and metre
The Bricklayer is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 trueA · youA · madeB · tradeB
- 2 AABB marchA · archA · hairB · thereB
- 3 AABB stoneA · knownA · maulB · allB
- 4 AABB boldA · coldA · freeB · beB
- 5 --AA them · methusalem · hateA · greatA
- 6 AABB strangeA · changeA · bidB · pyramidB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I tell this tale, which is strictly true, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Just by way of convincing you | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| How very little, since things mere made, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Things have altered in the building trade. | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| A year ago, come the middle of March, | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| We was building flats near the Marble Arch, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| When a thin young man with coal-black hair | 9 | ········· |
| Came up to watch us working there. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now there wasn't a trick in brick or stone | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| That this young man hadn't seen or known; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Nor there wasn't a tool from trowel to maul | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| But this young man could use 'em all! | 8 | ········ |
| Then up and spoke the plumbyers bold, | 8 | ········ |
| Which was laying the pipes for the hot and cold: | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| 'Since you with us have made so free, | 8 | ········ |
| Will you kindly say what your name might be?' | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| The young man kindly answered them: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| 'It might be Lot or Methusalem, | 9 | ········· |
| Or it might be Moses (a man I hate), | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Whereas it is Pharaoh surnamed the Great. | 10 | ˘/··/˘/··· |
| 'Your glazing is new and your plumbing's strange, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| But otherwise I perceive no change, | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| And in less than a month if you do as I bid | 12 | ············ |
| I'd learn you to build me a Pyramid!' | 9 | ·······/˘ |
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.