Madras
Clive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow,Wonderful kisses, so that I becameCrowned above Queens -- a withered beldame now,Brooding on ancient fame.
Words in this poem
- beldame n.
- Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Madras 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, Madras, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/madras.html, id L16794.
Form and metre
Madras is 4 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABAB. The lines average 8.8 syllables.
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 browA · becameB · nowA · fameB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Clive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow, | 10 | ·········· |
| Wonderful kisses, so that I became | 9 | /˘/˘···˘/ |
| Crowned above Queens -- a withered beldame now, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Brooding on ancient fame. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
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.