The Flowers
Buy my English posies!Kent and Surrey may --Violets of the UndercliffWet with Channel spray;Cowslips from a Devon combe --Midland furze afire --Buy my English posiesAnd I'll sell your heart's desire!
Buy my English posies!You that scorn the May,Won't you greet a friend from homeHalf the world away?Green against the draggled drift,Faint and frail and first --Buy my Northern blood-rootAnd I'll know where you were nursed:Robin down the logging-road whistles, “Come to me!”Spring has found the maple-grove, the sap is running free;All the winds of Canada call the ploughing-rain.Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!Here's to match your need --Buy a tuft of royal heath,Buy a bunch of weedWhite as sand of MuysenbergSpun before the gale --Buy my heath and liliesAnd I'll tell you whence you hail!Under hot Constantia broad the vineyards lie --Throned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless sky --Slow below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wain --Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!You that will not turn --Buy my hot-wood clematis,Buy a frond o' fernGathered where the Erskine leapsDown the road to Lorne --Buy my Christmas creeperAnd I'll say where you were born!West away from Melbourne dust holidays begin --They that mock at Paradise woo at Cora Lynn --Through the great South Otway gums sings the great South Main --Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!Here's your choice unsold!Buy a blood-red myrtle-bloom,Buy the kowhai's goldFlung for gift on Taupo's face,Sign that spring is come --Buy my clinging myrtleAnd I'll give you back your home!Broom behind the windy town; pollen o' the pine --Bell-bird in the leafy deep where the ratas twine --Fern above the saddle-bow, flax upon the plain --Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again!
Buy my English posies!Ye that have your ownBuy them for a brother's sakeOverseas, alone.Weed ye trample underfootFloods his heart abrim --Bird ye never heeded,Oh, she calls his dead to him!Far and far our homes are set round the Seven Seas;Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these!Unto each his mother-beach, bloom and bird and land --Masters of the Seven Seas, oh, love and understand.
Words in this poem
- undercliff n.
- A subordinate cliff on a shore, consisting of material that has fallen from the higher cliff above.
- combe n.
- That unwatered portion of a valley which forms its continuation beyond and above the most elevated spring that issues into it. [AS. comb, prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. cwm a dale, valley.]
- midland a.
- Being in the interior country; distant from the coast or seashore; as, midland towns or inhabitants. Howell.
- constantia n.
- A superior wine, white and red, from Constantia, in Cape Colony.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- berg n.
- A large mass or hill, as of ice. [sq. root95. See Barrow hill, and cf. Iceberg.]
- props n.
- A game of chance, in which four sea shells, each called a prop, are used instead of dice.
- wain n.
- A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon. [OE. wain, AS. wægn; akin to D. & G. wagen, OHG. wagan, Icel. & Sw. vagn, Dan. vogn, and E. way. Way, Weigh, and cf. Wagon.]
- clematis n.
- A genus of flowering plants, of many species, mostly climbers, having feathery styles, which greatly enlarge in the fruit; -- called also virgin's bower.
- cora n.
- The Arabian gazelle (Gazella Arabica), found from persia to North Africa.
- lynn n.
- A waterfall. See Lin.
- pollen n.
- Fine bran or flour. Bailey.
- overseas adv.
- Over the sea; abroad. Milton.
- underfoot adv.
- Under the feet; underneath; below. See Under foot, under Foot, n.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Flowers 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 Flowers, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/the-flowers.html, id L16826.
Form and metre
The Flowers is 68 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 AB-B--A- posiesA · mayB · undercliff · sprayB · combe · afire · posiesA · desire
- 2 -A-A-B-BCCDD posies · mayA · home · awayA · drift · firstB · root · nursedB · meC · freeC · rainD · againD
- 3 -A-A-B-BCCDD posies · needA · heath · weedA · muysenberg · galeB · lilies · hailB · lieC · skyC · wainD · againD
- 4 -A-A-B-BCCDD posies · turnA · clematis · fernA · leaps · lorneB · creeper · bornB · beginC · lynnC · mainD · againD
- 5 -A-A-B-BCCDD posies · unsoldA · bloom · goldA · face · comeB · myrtle · homeB · pineC · twineC · plainD · againD
- 6 -A-A-B-BCCDD posies · ownA · sake · aloneA · underfoot · abrimB · heeded · himB · seasC · theseC · landD · understandD
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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Kent and Surrey may -- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Violets of the Undercliff | 8 | /˘˘··/˘˘ |
| Wet with Channel spray; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Cowslips from a Devon combe -- | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Midland furze afire -- | 5 | /··˘/ |
| Buy my English posies | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And I'll sell your heart's desire! | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| You that scorn the May, | 5 | ····· |
| Won't you greet a friend from home | 7 | ······· |
| Half the world away? | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Green against the draggled drift, | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Faint and frail and first -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy my Northern blood-root | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And I'll know where you were nursed: | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Robin down the logging-road whistles, “Come to me!” | 12 | /˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| Spring has found the maple-grove, the sap is running free; | 13 | ····/˘····/˘· |
| All the winds of Canada call the ploughing-rain. | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! | 13 | ··/···/····˘/ |
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Here's to match your need -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy a tuft of royal heath, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Buy a bunch of weed | 5 | ····· |
| White as sand of Muysenberg | 7 | ······· |
| Spun before the gale -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy my heath and lilies | 6 | ····/˘ |
| And I'll tell you whence you hail! | 7 | ······· |
| Under hot Constantia broad the vineyards lie -- | 12 | ···˘/˘˘··/˘· |
| Throned and thorned the aching berg props the speckless sky -- | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Slow below the Wynberg firs trails the tilted wain -- | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! | 13 | ··/···/····˘/ |
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| You that will not turn -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy my hot-wood clematis, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Buy a frond o' fern | 5 | ····· |
| Gathered where the Erskine leaps | 8 | /˘˘··/·· |
| Down the road to Lorne -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy my Christmas creeper | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| And I'll say where you were born! | 7 | ······· |
| West away from Melbourne dust holidays begin -- | 12 | ·˘/·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| They that mock at Paradise woo at Cora Lynn -- | 12 | ····/˘···/˘· |
| Through the great South Otway gums sings the great South Main -- | 12 | ············ |
| Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! | 13 | ··/···/····˘/ |
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Here's your choice unsold! | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Buy a blood-red myrtle-bloom, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Buy the kowhai's gold | 5 | ····· |
| Flung for gift on Taupo's face, | 7 | ······· |
| Sign that spring is come -- | 5 | ····· |
| Buy my clinging myrtle | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| And I'll give you back your home! | 7 | ······· |
| Broom behind the windy town; pollen o' the pine -- | 12 | ····/˘·/˘··· |
| Bell-bird in the leafy deep where the ratas twine -- | 12 | ····/˘···/˘· |
| Fern above the saddle-bow, flax upon the plain -- | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Take the flower and turn the hour, and kiss your love again! | 13 | ··/···/····˘/ |
| Buy my English posies! | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Ye that have your own | 5 | ····· |
| Buy them for a brother's sake | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Overseas, alone. | 5 | /˘/˘/ |
| Weed ye trample underfoot | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Floods his heart abrim -- | 5 | ····· |
| Bird ye never heeded, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Oh, she calls his dead to him! | 7 | ······· |
| Far and far our homes are set round the Seven Seas; | 11 | ···/·····/· |
| Woe for us if we forget, we that hold by these! | 12 | ·····˘/····· |
| Unto each his mother-beach, bloom and bird and land -- | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Masters of the Seven Seas, oh, love and understand. | 12 | /˘··/·····˘/ |
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.