Bill 'Awkins
“'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?”“Now 'ow in the devil would I know?”“'E's taken my girl out walkin',An' I've got to tell 'im so --Gawd -- bless -- 'im!I've got to tell 'im so.”
“D'yer know what 'e's like, Bill 'Awkins?”“Now what in the devil would I care?”“'E's the livin', breathin' image of an organ-grinder's monkey,With a pound of grease in 'is 'air --Gawd -- bless -- 'im!An' a pound o' grease in 'is 'air.”
“An' s'pose you met Bill 'Awkins,Now what in the devil 'ud ye do?”“I'd open 'is cheek to 'is chin-strap buckle,An' bung up 'is both eyes, too --Gawd -- bless -- 'im!An' bung up 'is both eyes, too!”
“Look 'ere, where 'e comes, Bill 'Awkins!Now what in the devil will you say?”“It isn't fit an' proper to be fightin' on a Sunday,So I'll pass 'im the time o' day --Gawd -- bless -- 'im!I'll pass 'im the time o' day!”
About this text
Bill 'Awkins is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verses 1889-1896, Project Gutenberg ebook #323; 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, Bill 'Awkins, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/bill-awkins.html, id L16843.
Form and metre
Bill 'Awkins is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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-A awkins · knowA · walkin · soA · im · soA
- 2 -A-A-A awkins · careA · monkey · airA · im · airA
- 3 -A-A-A awkins · doA · buckle · tooA · im · tooA
- 4 -AAA-A awkins · sayA · sundayA · dayA · im · dayA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “'As anybody seen Bill 'Awkins?” | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| “Now 'ow in the devil would I know?” | 8 | ····/··· |
| “'E's taken my girl out walkin', | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| An' I've got to tell 'im so -- | 7 | ······· |
| Gawd -- bless -- 'im! | 3 | ··· |
| I've got to tell 'im so.” | 6 | ······ |
| “D'yer know what 'e's like, Bill 'Awkins?” | 8 | /······· |
| “Now what in the devil would I care?” | 8 | ····/··· |
| “'E's the livin', breathin' image of an organ-grinder's monkey, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘//˘ |
| With a pound of grease in 'is 'air -- | 8 | ········ |
| Gawd -- bless -- 'im! | 3 | ··· |
| An' a pound o' grease in 'is 'air.” | 8 | ········ |
| “An' s'pose you met Bill 'Awkins, | 7 | ······· |
| Now what in the devil 'ud ye do?” | 8 | ····/··· |
| “I'd open 'is cheek to 'is chin-strap buckle, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| An' bung up 'is both eyes, too -- | 7 | ······· |
| Gawd -- bless -- 'im! | 3 | ··· |
| An' bung up 'is both eyes, too!” | 7 | ······· |
| “Look 'ere, where 'e comes, Bill 'Awkins! | 8 | ········ |
| Now what in the devil will you say?” | 8 | ····/··· |
| “It isn't fit an' proper to be fightin' on a Sunday, | 15 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··/· |
| So I'll pass 'im the time o' day -- | 8 | ········ |
| Gawd -- bless -- 'im! | 3 | ··· |
| I'll pass 'im the time o' day!” | 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.