The Egg-Shell
The wind took off with the sunset--The fog came up with the tide,When the Witch of the North took an Egg-shellWith a little Blue Devil inside.'Sink,' she said, 'or swim,' she said,'It's all you will get from me.And that is the finish of him!' she said.And the Egg-shell went to sea.
The wind fell dead with the midnight--The fog shut down like a sheet,When the Witch of the North heard the Egg-shellFeeling by hand for a fleet.'Get!' she said, 'or you're gone,' she said,But the little Blue Devil said 'No!''The sights are just coming on,' he said,And he let the Whitehead go.
The wind got up with the morning--And the fog blew off with the rain,When the Witch of the North saw the Egg-shellAnd the little Blue Devil again.'Did you swim?' she said. 'Did you sink?' she said,And the little Blue Devil replied:'For myself I swam, but I think,' he said,'There's somebody sinking outside.'
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- whitehead n.
- A form of self-propelling torpedo.
- somebody n.
- A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Egg-Shell 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 Egg-Shell, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-egg-shell.html, id L20416.
Form and metre
The Egg-Shell is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 -A-ABCBC sunset · tideA · shell · insideA · saidB · meC · saidB · seaC
- 2 -A-ABCBC midnight · sheetA · shell · fleetA · saidB · noC · saidB · goC
- 3 -A-ABCBC morning · rainA · shell · againA · saidB · repliedC · saidB · outsideC
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The wind took off with the sunset-- | 8 | ······/· |
| The fog came up with the tide, | 7 | ······· |
| When the Witch of the North took an Egg-shell | 10 | ·········· |
| With a little Blue Devil inside. | 8 | ··/˘·//· |
| 'Sink,' she said, 'or swim,' she said, | 7 | ······· |
| 'It's all you will get from me. | 7 | ······· |
| And that is the finish of him!' she said. | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And the Egg-shell went to sea. | 7 | ······· |
| The wind fell dead with the midnight-- | 8 | ······/· |
| The fog shut down like a sheet, | 7 | ······· |
| When the Witch of the North heard the Egg-shell | 10 | ·········· |
| Feeling by hand for a fleet. | 7 | /˘····· |
| 'Get!' she said, 'or you're gone,' she said, | 8 | ········ |
| But the little Blue Devil said 'No!' | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| 'The sights are just coming on,' he said, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And he let the Whitehead go. | 7 | ····/·· |
| The wind got up with the morning-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the fog blew off with the rain, | 8 | ········ |
| When the Witch of the North saw the Egg-shell | 10 | ·········· |
| And the little Blue Devil again. | 8 | ··/˘·/˘/ |
| 'Did you swim?' she said. 'Did you sink?' she said, | 10 | ·········· |
| And the little Blue Devil replied: | 8 | ··/˘·/˘/ |
| 'For myself I swam, but I think,' he said, | 10 | ··/······· |
| 'There's somebody sinking outside.' | 8 | ·/·˘/˘// |
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.