England's Answer
Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban;Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man.Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare;Stark as your sons shall be -- stern as your fathers were.Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether,But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together.My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by;Sons, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are not dry.Look, I have made ye a place and opened wide the doors,That ye may talk together, your Barons and Councillors --Wards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower Seas,Ay, talk to your gray mother that bore you on her knees! --That ye may talk together, brother to brother's face --Thus for the good of your peoples -- thus for the Pride of the Race.Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures,I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength is yours:In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all,That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall.Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold bands,And the Law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your lands.This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom,This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom.The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not press my will,Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother still.Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they must speak to you,After the use of the English, in straight-flung words and few.Go to your work and be strong, halting not in your ways,Balking the end half-won for an instant dole of praise.Stand to your work and be wise -- certain of sword and pen,Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a world of men!
Words in this poem
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- 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,]
- tether n.
- A long rope or chain by which an animal is fastened, as to a stake, so that it can range or feed only within certain limits. [Formerly tedder, OE. tedir; akin to LG. tider, tier, Icel. tjo, Dan. töir. *64.]
- ninefold a.
- Nine times repeated.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
England's Answer 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, England's Answer, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/england-s-answer.html, id L16807.
Form and metre
England's Answer is 30 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 93% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.6 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.
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--BBCCDDEEFFDDGGHHIIJJKKLLMM banA · manA · bare · were · tetherB · togetherB · byC · dryC · doorsD · councillorsD · seasE · kneesE · faceF · raceF · enduresD · yoursD · allG · fallG · bandsH · landsH · bloomI · broomI · willJ · stillJ · youK · fewK · waysL · praiseL · penM · menM
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 iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Truly ye come of The Blood; slower to bless than to ban; | 13 | /˘·····/····· |
| Little used to lie down at the bidding of any man. | 14 | /˘······/˘·/˘· |
| Flesh of the flesh that I bred, bone of the bone that I bare; | 14 | ·············· |
| Stark as your sons shall be -- stern as your fathers were. | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Deeper than speech our love, stronger than life our tether, | 13 | /˘··/·/˘··//˘ |
| But we do not fall on the neck nor kiss when we come together. | 16 | ·············˘/˘ |
| My arm is nothing weak, my strength is not gone by; | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Sons, I have borne many sons, but my dugs are not dry. | 12 | ····/······· |
| Look, I have made ye a place and opened wide the doors, | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| That ye may talk together, your Barons and Councillors -- | 14 | ····˘/˘·/˘···· |
| Wards of the Outer March, Lords of the Lower Seas, | 10 | ···/····/· |
| Ay, talk to your gray mother that bore you on her knees! -- | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| That ye may talk together, brother to brother's face -- | 13 | ····˘/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Thus for the good of your peoples -- thus for the Pride of the Race. | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Also, we will make promise. So long as The Blood endures, | 14 | /˘···/˘·····˘/ |
| I shall know that your good is mine: ye shall feel that my strength is yours: | 16 | ················ |
| In the day of Armageddon, at the last great fight of all, | 15 | ·····˘/˘······· |
| That Our House stand together and the pillars do not fall. | 14 | ·/··˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Draw now the threefold knot firm on the ninefold bands, | 12 | ···/·····/·· |
| And the Law that ye make shall be law after the rule of your lands. | 16 | ················ |
| This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom, | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom. | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not press my will, | 15 | ··············· |
| Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother still. | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Now must ye speak to your kinsmen and they must speak to you, | 14 | ·············· |
| After the use of the English, in straight-flung words and few. | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| Go to your work and be strong, halting not in your ways, | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| Balking the end half-won for an instant dole of praise. | 13 | /˘······/˘··· |
| Stand to your work and be wise -- certain of sword and pen, | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| Who are neither children nor Gods, but men in a world of men! | 15 | ··/˘/˘········· |
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.