The Answer
A Rose, in tatters on the garden path,Cried out to God and murmured 'gainst His Wrath,Because a sudden wind at twilight's hushHad snapped her stem alone of all the bush.And God, Who hears both sun-dried dust and sun,Had pity, whispering to that luckless one,“Sister, in that thou sayest We did not well --What voices heardst thou when thy petals fell?”And the Rose answered, “In that evil hourA voice said, `Father, wherefore falls the flower?For lo, the very gossamers are still.'And a voice answered, `Son, by Allah's will!'”
Then softly as a rain-mist on the sward,Came to the Rose the Answer of the Lord:“Sister, before We smote the dark in twain,Ere yet the stars saw one another plain,That thou shouldst fall, and such an one should ask.”Whereat the withered flower, all content,Died as they die whose days are innocent;While he who questioned why the flower fellCaught hold of God and saved his soul from Hell.
Words in this poem
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The 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, The Answer, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/the-answer.html, id L16817.
Form and metre
The Answer is 21 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--BBCCDDEE pathA · wrathA · hush · bush · sunB · oneB · wellC · fellC · hourD · flowerD · stillE · willE
- 2 AABB---CC swardA · lordA · twainB · plainB · ask · content · innocent · fellC · hellC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A Rose, in tatters on the garden path, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Cried out to God and murmured 'gainst His Wrath, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Because a sudden wind at twilight's hush | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Had snapped her stem alone of all the bush. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And God, Who hears both sun-dried dust and sun, | 10 | ·········· |
| Had pity, whispering to that luckless one, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| “Sister, in that thou sayest We did not well -- | 10 | /˘········ |
| What voices heardst thou when thy petals fell?” | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And the Rose answered, “In that evil hour | 9 | ···/˘··// |
| A voice said, `Father, wherefore falls the flower? | 10 | ···/˘/˘··/ |
| For lo, the very gossamers are still.' | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| And a voice answered, `Son, by Allah's will!'” | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Then softly as a rain-mist on the sward, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Came to the Rose the Answer of the Lord: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| “Sister, before We smote the dark in twain, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Ere yet the stars saw one another plain, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| That thou shouldst fall, and such an one should ask.” | 10 | ·········· |
| Whereat the withered flower, all content, | 9 | ˘/·/˘/·/˘ |
| Died as they die whose days are innocent; | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| While he who questioned why the flower fell | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| Caught hold of God and saved his soul from Hell. | 10 | ·········· |
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.