The Recall
I am the land of their fathers.In me the virtue stays.I will bring back my children,After certain days.
Under their feet in the grassesMy clinging magic runs.They shall return as strangers,They shall remain as sons.
Over their heads in the branchesOf their new-bought, ancient trees,I weave an incantationAnd draw them to my knees.
Scent of smoke in the evening.Smell of rain in the night,The hours, the days and the seasons,Order their souls aright;
Till I make plain the meaningOf all my thousand years--Till I fill their hearts with knowledge.While I fill their eyes with tears.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Recall 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 Recall, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-recall.html, id L20276.
Form and metre
The Recall is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in short 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 AA-A fathersA · staysA · children · daysA
- 2 -A-A grasses · runsA · strangers · sonsA
- 3 AA-A branchesA · treesA · incantation · kneesA
- 4 -A-A evening · nightA · seasons · arightA
- 5 -A-A meaning · yearsA · knowledge · tearsA
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am the land of their fathers. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In me the virtue stays. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I will bring back my children, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| After certain days. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Under their feet in the grasses | 8 | ······/˘ |
| My clinging magic runs. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| They shall return as strangers, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| They shall remain as sons. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| Over their heads in the branches | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of their new-bought, ancient trees, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I weave an incantation | 7 | ···˘//˘ |
| And draw them to my knees. | 6 | ······ |
| Scent of smoke in the evening. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Smell of rain in the night, | 6 | ······ |
| The hours, the days and the seasons, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Order their souls aright; | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Till I make plain the meaning | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of all my thousand years-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Till I fill their hearts with knowledge. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| While I fill their eyes with tears. | 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.