The Deep-Sea Cables
The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar --Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind white sea-snakes are.There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of the deep,Or the great gray level plains of ooze where the shell-burred cables creep.
Here in the womb of the world -- here on the tie-ribs of earthWords, and the words of men, flicker and flutter and beat --Warning, sorrow and gain, salutation and mirth --For a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor feet.
They have wakened the timeless Things; they have killed their father Time;Joining hands in the gloom, a league from the last of the sun.Hush! Men talk to-day o'er the waste of the ultimate slime,And a new Word runs between: whispering, “Let us be one!”
Words in this poem
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- womb n.
- The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
- flicker v. i.
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. Flacker.]
- timeless a.
- Done at an improper time; unseasonable; untimely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Deep-Sea Cables 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 Deep-Sea Cables, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/the-deep-sea-cables.html, id L16790.
Form and metre
The Deep-Sea Cables is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.2 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic 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 AABB afarA · areA · deepB · creepB
- 2 ABAB earthA · beatB · mirthA · feetB
- 3 ABAB timeA · sunB · slimeA · oneB
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 anapaestic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The wrecks dissolve above us; their dust drops down from afar -- | 14 | ··˘/········˘/ |
| Down to the dark, to the utter dark, where the blind white sea-snakes are. | 16 | ······/˘········ |
| There is no sound, no echo of sound, in the deserts of the deep, | 16 | ·····/˘····/˘··· |
| Or the great gray level plains of ooze where the shell-burred cables creep. | 16 | ····/˘·······/˘· |
| Here in the womb of the world -- here on the tie-ribs of earth | 14 | ·············· |
| Words, and the words of men, flicker and flutter and beat -- | 13 | ······/˘·/˘·· |
| Warning, sorrow and gain, salutation and mirth -- | 12 | /˘/˘········ |
| For a Power troubles the Still that has neither voice nor feet. | 14 | ··//˘····/˘··· |
| They have wakened the timeless Things; they have killed their father Time; | 15 | ··/˘·/˘·····/˘· |
| Joining hands in the gloom, a league from the last of the sun. | 14 | /˘············ |
| Hush! Men talk to-day o'er the waste of the ultimate slime, | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| And a new Word runs between: whispering, “Let us be one!” | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
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.