The Fairies' Siege
I have been given my charge to keep--Well have I kept the same!Playing with strife for the most of my life,But this is a different game.I'll not fight against swords unseen,Or spears that I cannot view--Hand him the keys of the place on your knees--'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
Ask for his terms and accept them at once.Quick, ere we anger him; go!Never before have I flinched from the guns,But this is a different show.I'll not fight with the Herald of God(I know what his Master can do!)Open the gate, he must enter in state,'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true!
I'd not give way for an Emperor,I'd hold my road for a King--To the Triple Crown I would not bow down--But this is a different thing.I'll not fight with the Powers of Air,Sentry, pass him through!Drawbridge let fall, it's the Lord of us all,The Dreamer whose dreams come true!
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- dreamer n.
- One who dreams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Fairies' Siege 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 Fairies' Siege, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-fairies-siege.html, id L20310.
Form and metre
The Fairies' Siege is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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-A-B-B keep · sameA · life · gameA · unseen · viewB · knees · trueB
- 2 -A-A-B-B once · goA · guns · showA · god · doB · state · trueB
- 3 -A-A-B-B emperor · kingA · down · thingA · air · throughB · all · trueB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have been given my charge to keep-- | 8 | ···/···· |
| Well have I kept the same! | 6 | ······ |
| Playing with strife for the most of my life, | 10 | /˘········ |
| But this is a different game. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| I'll not fight against swords unseen, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Or spears that I cannot view-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hand him the keys of the place on your knees-- | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Ask for his terms and accept them at once. | 10 | ·····˘/··· |
| Quick, ere we anger him; go! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Never before have I flinched from the guns, | 9 | /········ |
| But this is a different show. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| I'll not fight with the Herald of God | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| (I know what his Master can do!) | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Open the gate, he must enter in state, | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| 'Tis the Dreamer whose dreams come true! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I'd not give way for an Emperor, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| I'd hold my road for a King-- | 7 | ······· |
| To the Triple Crown I would not bow down-- | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| But this is a different thing. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| I'll not fight with the Powers of Air, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Sentry, pass him through! | 5 | /˘··· |
| Drawbridge let fall, it's the Lord of us all, | 10 | /········· |
| The Dreamer whose dreams come true! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
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.