The Return of the Children
Neither the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the cherubs' dove-winged races--Holding hands forlornly the Children wandered beneath the Dome,Plucking the splendid robes of the passers-by, and with pitiful facesBegging what Princes and Powers refused:--'Ah, please will you let us go home?'
So through the Void the Children ran homeward merrily hand in hand,Looking neither to left nor right where the breathless Heavens stood still.And the Guards of the Void resheathed their swords, for they heard the Command:'Shall I that have suffered the children to come to Me hold them against their will?'
Words in this poem
- forlornly adv.
- In a forlorn manner. Pollok.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Return of the Children 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 Return of the Children, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-return-of-the-children.html, id L20376.
Form and metre
The Return of the Children is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB.
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 racesA · domeB · facesA · homeB
- 2 ABAB handA · stillB · commandA · willB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Neither the harps nor the crowns amused, nor the cherubs' dove-winged races-- | 17 | /˘·····˘/··/˘··/˘ |
| Holding hands forlornly the Children wandered beneath the Dome, | 15 | /˘·˘/˘·/˘/˘···· |
| Plucking the splendid robes of the passers-by, and with pitiful faces | 17 | /˘·/˘···/˘···/˘/˘ |
| Begging what Princes and Powers refused:--'Ah, please will you let us go home?' | 17 | /˘·/˘·/˘/········ |
| So through the Void the Children ran homeward merrily hand in hand, | 15 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Looking neither to left nor right where the breathless Heavens stood still. | 16 | /˘/˘······/˘/˘·· |
| And the Guards of the Void resheathed their swords, for they heard the Command: | 16 | ··············˘/ |
| 'Shall I that have suffered the children to come to Me hold them against their will?' | 19 | ····/˘·/˘·········· |
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.