The Winners
What is the moral? Who rides may read.When the night is thick and the tracks are blindA friend at a pinch is a friend indeed,But a fool to wait for the laggard behind.Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,He travels the fastest who travels alone.
White hands cling to the tightened rein,Slipping the spur from the booted heel,Tenderest voices cry 'Turn again,'Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,High hopes faint on a warm hearth stone--He travels the fastest who travels alone.
One may fall but he falls by himself--Falls by himself with himself to blame,One may attain and to him is pelf,Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.Plunder of earth shall be all his ownWho travels the fastest and travels alone.
Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed,Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil,Sing the heretical song I have made--His be the labour and yours be the spoil,Win by his aid and the aid disown--He travels the fastest who travels alone!
Words in this poem
- laggard a.
- Slow; sluggish; backward. [Lag + -ard.]
- booted a.
- Wearing boots, especially boots with long tops, as for riding; as, a booted squire.
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
- loot n.
- The act of plundering. [Hind. l, Skr. l, l, booty, lup to break, spoil; prob. akin to E. rob.]
- 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,]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Winners 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 Winners, in Songs from Books (1912), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15529, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-songs-from-books/the-winners.html, id L20319.
Form and metre
The Winners is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC.
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 ABABCC readA · blindB · indeedA · behindB · throneC · aloneC
- 2 ABABCC reinA · heelB · againA · steelB · stoneC · aloneC
- 3 ABABCC himselfA · blameB · pelfA · fameB · ownC · aloneC
- 4 ABABCC stayedA · toilB · madeA · spoilB · disownC · aloneC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What is the moral? Who rides may read. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| When the night is thick and the tracks are blind | 10 | ·········· |
| A friend at a pinch is a friend indeed, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But a fool to wait for the laggard behind. | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| White hands cling to the tightened rein, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Slipping the spur from the booted heel, | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Tenderest voices cry 'Turn again,' | 8 | /˘/˘··˘/ |
| Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| High hopes faint on a warm hearth stone-- | 8 | ········ |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| One may fall but he falls by himself-- | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Falls by himself with himself to blame, | 9 | ··˘/·˘/·· |
| One may attain and to him is pelf, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| Loot of the city in Gold or Fame. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Plunder of earth shall be all his own | 9 | /˘······· |
| Who travels the fastest and travels alone. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Wherefore the more ye be holpen and stayed, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Stayed by a friend in the hour of toil, | 9 | ······/·· |
| Sing the heretical song I have made-- | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| His be the labour and yours be the spoil, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Win by his aid and the aid disown-- | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| He travels the fastest who travels alone! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
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.