The Necessitarian
I know not in Whose hands are laidTo empty upon earthFrom unsuspected ambuscadeThe very Urns of Mirth;
Who bids the Heavenly Lark ariseAnd cheer our solemn round--The Jest beheld with streaming eyesAnd grovellings on the ground;
Who joins the flats of Time and ChanceBehind the prey preferred,And thrones on Shrieking CircumstanceThe Sacredly Absurd,
Till Laughter, voiceless through excess,Waves mute appeal and sore,Above the midriff's deep distress,For breath to laugh once more.
No creed hath dared to hail Him Lord,No raptured choirs proclaim,And Nature's strenuous OverwordHath nowhere breathed His Name.
Yet, it must be, on wayside jape,The selfsame Power bestowsThe selfsame power as went to shapeHis Planet or His Rose.
Words in this poem
- ambuscade n.
- A lying in a wood, concealed, for the purpose of attacking an enemy by surprise. Hence: A lying in wait, and concealed in any situation, for a like purpose; a snare laid for an enemy; an ambush. [F. embuscade, fr. It. imboscata, or Sp. emboscada, fr. emboscar to ambush, fr. LL. imboscare. See Ambush, v. t.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- voiceless a.
- Having no voice, utterance, or vote; silent; mute; dumb.
- strenuous a.
- Eagerly pressing or urgent; zealous; ardent; earnest; bold; valiant; intrepid; as, a strenuous advocate for national rights; a strenuous reformer; a strenuous defender of his country.
- overword v. t.
- To say in too many words; to express verbosely. Hales.
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
- jape v. i.
- To jest; to play tricks; to jeer. [Prob. from the same source as gab,influenced by F. japper to yelp. See Gab to deceive.]
- selfsame a.
- Precisely the same; the very same; identical. [Self, a. + same.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Necessitarian 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 Necessitarian, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-necessitarian.html, id L20367.
Form and metre
The Necessitarian is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB laidA · earthB · ambuscadeA · mirthB
- 2 ABAB ariseA · roundB · eyesA · groundB
- 3 ABAB chanceA · preferredB · circumstanceA · absurdB
- 4 ABAB excessA · soreB · distressA · moreB
- 5 ABAB lordA · proclaimB · overwordA · nameB
- 6 ABAB japeA · bestowsB · shapeA · roseB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I know not in Whose hands are laid | 8 | ········ |
| To empty upon earth | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From unsuspected ambuscade | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The very Urns of Mirth; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who bids the Heavenly Lark arise | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And cheer our solemn round-- | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| The Jest beheld with streaming eyes | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| And grovellings on the ground; | 7 | ······· |
| Who joins the flats of Time and Chance | 8 | ········ |
| Behind the prey preferred, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And thrones on Shrieking Circumstance | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The Sacredly Absurd, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Till Laughter, voiceless through excess, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Waves mute appeal and sore, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Above the midriff's deep distress, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For breath to laugh once more. | 6 | ······ |
| No creed hath dared to hail Him Lord, | 8 | ········ |
| No raptured choirs proclaim, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| And Nature's strenuous Overword | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Hath nowhere breathed His Name. | 6 | ·/···· |
| Yet, it must be, on wayside jape, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The selfsame Power bestows | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘/ |
| The selfsame power as went to shape | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| His Planet or His Rose. | 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.