The Last Suttee
Udai Chand lay sick to deathIn his hold by Gungra hill.All night we heard the death-gongs ringFor the soul of the dying Rajpoot King,All night beat up from the women's wingA cry that we could not still.
All night the barons came and went,The lords of the outer guard:All night the cressets glimmered paleOn Ulwar sabre and Tonk jezail,Mewar headstall and Marwar mail,That clinked in the palace yard.
In the Golden room on the palace roofAll night he fought for air:And there was sobbing behind the screen,Rustle and whisper of women unseen,And the hungry eyes of the Boondi QueenOn the death she might not share.
He passed at dawn -- the death-fire leapedFrom ridge to river-head,From the Malwa plains to the Abu scars:And wail upon wail went up to the starsBehind the grim zenana-bars,When they knew that the King was dead.
The dumb priest knelt to tie his mouthAnd robe him for the pyre.The Boondi Queen beneath us cried:“See, now, that we die as our mothers diedIn the bridal-bed by our master's side!Out, women! -- to the fire!”
We drove the great gates home apace:White hands were on the sill:But ere the rush of the unseen feetHad reached the turn to the open street,The bars shot down, the guard-drum beat --We held the dovecot still.
A face looked down in the gathering day,And laughing spoke from the wall:“Oh]/e, they mourn here: let me by --Azizun, the Lucknow nautch-girl, I!When the house is rotten, the rats must fly,And I seek another thrall.
“For I ruled the King as ne'er did Queen, --To-night the Queens rule me!Guard them safely, but let me go,Or ever they pay the debt they oweIn scourge and torture!” She leaped below,And the grim guard watched her flee.
They knew that the King had spent his soulOn a North-bred dancing-girl:That he prayed to a flat-nosed Lucknow god,And kissed the ground where her feet had trod,And doomed to death at her drunken nod,And swore by her lightest curl.
We bore the King to his fathers' place,Where the tombs of the Sun-born stand:Where the gray apes swing, and the peacocks preenOn fretted pillar and jewelled screen,And the wild boar couch in the house of the QueenOn the drift of the desert sand.
The herald read his titles forth,We set the logs aglow:“Friend of the English, free from fear,Baron of Luni to Jeysulmeer,Lord of the Desert of Bikaneer,King of the Jungle, -- go!”
All night the red flame stabbed the skyWith wavering wind-tossed spears:And out of a shattered temple creptA woman who veiled her head and wept,And called on the King -- but the great King slept,And turned not for her tears.
Small thought had he to mark the strife --Cold fear with hot desire --When thrice she leaped from the leaping flame,And thrice she beat her breast for shame,And thrice like a wounded dove she cameAnd moaned about the fire.
One watched, a bow-shot from the blaze,The silent streets between,Who had stood by the King in sport and fray,To blade in ambush or boar at bay,And he was a baron old and gray,And kin to the Boondi Queen.
He said: “O shameless, put asideThe veil upon thy brow!Who held the King and all his landTo the wanton will of a harlot's hand!Will the white ash rise from the blistered brand?Stoop down, and call him now!”
Then she: “By the faith of my tarnished soul,All things I did not well,I had hoped to clear ere the fire died,And lay me down by my master's sideTo rule in Heaven his only bride,While the others howl in Hell.
“But I have felt the fire's breath,And hard it is to die!Yet if I may pray a Rajpoot lordTo sully the steel of a Thakur's swordWith base-born blood of a trade abhorred,” --And the Thakur answered, “Ay.”
He drew and struck: the straight blade drankThe life beneath the breast.“I had looked for the Queen to face the flame,But the harlot dies for the Rajpoot dame --Sister of mine, pass, free from shame,Pass with thy King to rest!”
The black log crashed above the white:The little flames and lean,Red as slaughter and blue as steel,That whistled and fluttered from head to heel,Leaped up anew, for they found their mealOn the heart of -- the Boondi Queen!
Words in this poem 20
- rajpoot n.
- A Hindoo of the second, or royal and military, caste; a Kshatriya; especially, an inhabitant of the country of Rajpootana, in northern central India. [Hind. raj-put, Skr. raja-putra king's son.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
- headstall n.
- That part of a bridle or halter which encompasses the head.
- sobbing n.
- A series of short, convulsive inspirations, the glottis being suddenly closed so that little or no air enters into the lungs.
- rustle v. i.
- To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- pyre n.
- A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- apace adv.
- With a quick pace; quick; fast; speedily. [Pref. a- + pace. OE. a pas at a walk, in which a is the article. See Pace.]
- dovecot n.
- A small house or box, raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments, in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- scourge n.
- A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip. [F. escourgée, fr. L. excoriata (sc. scutica) a stripped off (lash or whip), fr. excoriate to strip, to skin. See Excoriate.]
- preen n.
- A forked tool used by clothiers in dressing cloth. [AS. preón a clasp, bodkin; akin to D. priem punch, bodkin, awl, G. pfriem, Icel. prjonn a knitting needle, pin, Dan. preen a bodkin, punch.]
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- jungle n.
- A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Last Suttee 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 Last Suttee, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/the-last-suttee.html, id L16761.
Form and metre
The Last Suttee is 114 lines in 19 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 4 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 iambic tetrameter.
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 -ABBBA death · hillA · ringB · kingB · wingB · stillA
- 2 -ABBBA went · guardA · paleB · jezailB · mailB · yardA
- 3 -ABBBA roof · airA · screenB · unseenB · queenB · shareA
- 4 -ABBBA leaped · headA · scarsB · starsB · barsB · deadA
- 5 -ABBBA mouth · pyreA · criedB · diedB · sideB · fireA
- 6 -ABBBA apace · sillA · feetB · streetB · beatB · stillA
- 7 -ABBBA day · wallA · byB · iB · flyB · thrallA
- 8 -ABBBA queen · meA · goB · oweB · belowB · fleeA
- 9 -ABBBA soul · girlA · godB · trodB · nodB · curlA
- 10 -ABBBA place · standA · preenB · screenB · queenB · sandA
- 11 -ABBBA forth · aglowA · fearB · jeysulmeerB · bikaneerB · goA
- 12 -ABBBA sky · spearsA · creptB · weptB · sleptB · tearsA
- 13 -ABBBA strife · desireA · flameB · shameB · cameB · fireA
- 14 -ABBBA blaze · betweenA · frayB · bayB · grayB · queenA
- 15 -ABBBA aside · browA · landB · handB · brandB · nowA
- 16 -ABBBA soul · wellA · diedB · sideB · brideB · hellA
- 17 -ABBBA breath · dieA · lordB · swordB · abhorredB · ayA
- 18 -ABBBA drank · breastA · flameB · dameB · shameB · restA
- 19 -ABBBA white · leanA · steelB · heelB · mealB · queenA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Udai Chand lay sick to death | 7 | ······· |
| In his hold by Gungra hill. | 7 | ······· |
| All night we heard the death-gongs ring | 8 | ········ |
| For the soul of the dying Rajpoot King, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| All night beat up from the women's wing | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A cry that we could not still. | 7 | ······· |
| All night the barons came and went, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The lords of the outer guard: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All night the cressets glimmered pale | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On Ulwar sabre and Tonk jezail, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Mewar headstall and Marwar mail, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| That clinked in the palace yard. | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| In the Golden room on the palace roof | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| All night he fought for air: | 6 | ······ |
| And there was sobbing behind the screen, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Rustle and whisper of women unseen, | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| And the hungry eyes of the Boondi Queen | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| On the death she might not share. | 7 | ······· |
| He passed at dawn -- the death-fire leaped | 8 | ······/· |
| From ridge to river-head, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| From the Malwa plains to the Abu scars: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And wail upon wail went up to the stars | 10 | ·········· |
| Behind the grim zenana-bars, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| When they knew that the King was dead. | 8 | ········ |
| The dumb priest knelt to tie his mouth | 8 | ········ |
| And robe him for the pyre. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The Boondi Queen beneath us cried: | 8 | ········ |
| “See, now, that we die as our mothers died | 10 | ······//˘· |
| In the bridal-bed by our master's side! | 10 | ··/˘··//˘· |
| Out, women! -- to the fire!” | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| We drove the great gates home apace: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| White hands were on the sill: | 6 | ······ |
| But ere the rush of the unseen feet | 9 | ······˘/· |
| Had reached the turn to the open street, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The bars shot down, the guard-drum beat -- | 8 | ········ |
| We held the dovecot still. | 7 | ······· |
| A face looked down in the gathering day, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And laughing spoke from the wall: | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| “Oh]/e, they mourn here: let me by -- | 8 | ········ |
| Azizun, the Lucknow nautch-girl, I! | 9 | ········· |
| When the house is rotten, the rats must fly, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And I seek another thrall. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| “For I ruled the King as ne'er did Queen, -- | 9 | ········· |
| To-night the Queens rule me! | 6 | ······ |
| Guard them safely, but let me go, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Or ever they pay the debt they owe | 8 | ·/······ |
| In scourge and torture!” She leaped below, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| And the grim guard watched her flee. | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| They knew that the King had spent his soul | 9 | ········· |
| On a North-bred dancing-girl: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That he prayed to a flat-nosed Lucknow god, | 10 | ·········· |
| And kissed the ground where her feet had trod, | 9 | ········· |
| And doomed to death at her drunken nod, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And swore by her lightest curl. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We bore the King to his fathers' place, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Where the tombs of the Sun-born stand: | 8 | ········ |
| Where the gray apes swing, and the peacocks preen | 10 | ·······/·· |
| On fretted pillar and jewelled screen, | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| And the wild boar couch in the house of the Queen | 11 | ··········· |
| On the drift of the desert sand. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The herald read his titles forth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| We set the logs aglow: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| “Friend of the English, free from fear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Baron of Luni to Jeysulmeer, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Lord of the Desert of Bikaneer, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| King of the Jungle, -- go!” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| All night the red flame stabbed the sky | 8 | ········ |
| With wavering wind-tossed spears: | 8 | ·/˘˘··˘· |
| And out of a shattered temple crept | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| A woman who veiled her head and wept, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And called on the King -- but the great King slept, | 10 | ·········· |
| And turned not for her tears. | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Small thought had he to mark the strife -- | 8 | ········ |
| Cold fear with hot desire -- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| When thrice she leaped from the leaping flame, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And thrice she beat her breast for shame, | 8 | ········ |
| And thrice like a wounded dove she came | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And moaned about the fire. | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| One watched, a bow-shot from the blaze, | 8 | ········ |
| The silent streets between, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Who had stood by the King in sport and fray, | 10 | ·········· |
| To blade in ambush or boar at bay, | 9 | ···/····· |
| And he was a baron old and gray, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| And kin to the Boondi Queen. | 7 | ······· |
| He said: “O shameless, put aside | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The veil upon thy brow! | 6 | ······ |
| Who held the King and all his land | 8 | ········ |
| To the wanton will of a harlot's hand! | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Will the white ash rise from the blistered brand? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Stoop down, and call him now!” | 6 | ······ |
| Then she: “By the faith of my tarnished soul, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All things I did not well, | 6 | ······ |
| I had hoped to clear ere the fire died, | 9 | ·······/· |
| And lay me down by my master's side | 9 | ······/˘· |
| To rule in Heaven his only bride, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| While the others howl in Hell. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “But I have felt the fire's breath, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hard it is to die! | 6 | ······ |
| Yet if I may pray a Rajpoot lord | 9 | ········· |
| To sully the steel of a Thakur's sword | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With base-born blood of a trade abhorred,” -- | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And the Thakur answered, “Ay.” | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| He drew and struck: the straight blade drank | 8 | ········ |
| The life beneath the breast. | 6 | ······ |
| “I had looked for the Queen to face the flame, | 10 | ·········· |
| But the harlot dies for the Rajpoot dame -- | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Sister of mine, pass, free from shame, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Pass with thy King to rest!” | 6 | ······ |
| The black log crashed above the white: | 8 | ········ |
| The little flames and lean, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Red as slaughter and blue as steel, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| That whistled and fluttered from head to heel, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Leaped up anew, for they found their meal | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| On the heart of -- the Boondi Queen! | 8 | ········ |
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