Soldier, Soldier
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,Why don't you march with my true love?”“We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's maybe give the slip,An' you'd best go look for a new love.”New love! True love!Best go look for a new love,The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,An' you'd best go look for a new love.
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,What did you see o' my true love?”“I seed 'im serve the Queen in a suit o' rifle-green,An' you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,Did ye see no more o' my true love?”“I seed 'im runnin' by when the shots begun to fly --But you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,Did aught take 'arm to my true love?”“I couldn't see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white --An' you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,I'll up an' tend to my true love!”“'E's lying on the dead with a bullet through 'is 'ead,An' you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,I'll down an' die with my true love!”“The pit we dug'll 'ide 'im an' the twenty men beside 'im --An' you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,Do you bring no sign from my true love?”“I bring a lock of 'air that 'e allus used to wear,An' you'd best go look for a new love.”
“Soldier, soldier come from the wars,O then I know it's true I've lost my true love!”“An' I tell you truth again -- when you've lost the feel o' painYou'd best take me for your true love.”True love! New love!Best take 'im for a new love,The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,An' you'd best take 'im for your true love.
Words in this poem
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- shots n.
- The refuse of cattle taken from a drove.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Soldier, Soldier 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, Soldier, Soldier, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/soldier-soldier.html, id L16743.
Form and metre
Soldier, Soldier is 40 lines in 8 stanzas. 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 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 -A-AAA-A wars · loveA · slip · loveA · loveA · loveA · eyes · loveA
- 2 -A-A wars · loveA · green · loveA
- 3 -A-A wars · loveA · fly · loveA
- 4 -A-A wars · loveA · white · loveA
- 5 -A-A wars · loveA · ead · loveA
- 6 -A-A wars · loveA · im · loveA
- 7 -A-A wars · loveA · wear · loveA
- 8 -A-AAA-A wars · loveA · pain · loveA · loveA · loveA · eyes · loveA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Why don't you march with my true love?” | 8 | ········ |
| “We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's maybe give the slip, | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| New love! True love! | 4 | ···· |
| Best go look for a new love, | 7 | ······· |
| The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes, | 13 | ···˘/···/˘··· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love. | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| What did you see o' my true love?” | 8 | ········ |
| “I seed 'im serve the Queen in a suit o' rifle-green, | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Did ye see no more o' my true love?” | 9 | ········· |
| “I seed 'im runnin' by when the shots begun to fly -- | 13 | ···/˘····/˘·· |
| But you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Did aught take 'arm to my true love?” | 8 | ········ |
| “I couldn't see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white -- | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| I'll up an' tend to my true love!” | 8 | ········ |
| “'E's lying on the dead with a bullet through 'is 'ead, | 13 | ·/˘·····/˘··· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| I'll down an' die with my true love!” | 8 | ········ |
| “The pit we dug'll 'ide 'im an' the twenty men beside 'im -- | 14 | ········/˘·˘/· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Do you bring no sign from my true love?” | 9 | ········· |
| “I bring a lock of 'air that 'e allus used to wear, | 13 | ············· |
| An' you'd best go look for a new love.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Soldier, soldier come from the wars, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| O then I know it's true I've lost my true love!” | 11 | ··········· |
| “An' I tell you truth again -- when you've lost the feel o' pain | 14 | ·····˘/······· |
| You'd best take me for your true love.” | 8 | ········ |
| True love! New love! | 4 | ···· |
| Best take 'im for a new love, | 7 | ······· |
| The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes, | 13 | ···˘/···/˘··· |
| An' you'd best take 'im for your true love. | 9 | ········· |
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.