The Three-Decker
Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail.It cost a watch to steer her, and a week to shorten sail;But, spite all modern notions, I found her first and best --The only certain packet for the Islands of the Blest.
Fair held the breeze behind us -- 'twas warm with lovers' prayers.We'd stolen wills for ballast and a crew of missing heirs.They shipped as Able Bastards till the Wicked Nurse confessed,And they worked the old three-decker to the Islands of the Blest.
By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of Cook,Per Fancy, fleetest in man, our titled berths we tookWith maids of matchless beauty and parentage unguessed,And a Church of England parson for the Islands of the Blest.
We asked no social questions -- we pumped no hidden shame --We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came:We left the Lord in Heaven, we left the fiends in Hell.We weren't exactly Yussufs, but -- Zuleika didn't tell.
No moral doubt assailed us, so when the port we neared,The villain had his flogging at the gangway, and we cheered.'Twas fiddle in the forc's'le -- 'twas garlands on the mast,For every one got married, and I went ashore at last.
I left 'em all in couples a-kissing on the decks.I left the lovers loving and the parents signing cheques.In endless English comfort by county-folk caressed,I left the old three-decker at the Islands of the Blest!
That route is barred to steamers: you'll never lift againOur purple-painted headlands or the lordly keeps of Spain.They're just beyond your skyline, howe'er so far you cruiseIn a ram-you-damn-you liner with a brace of bucking screws.
Swing round your aching search-light -- 'twill show no haven's peace.Ay, blow your shrieking sirens to the deaf, gray-bearded seas!Boom out the dripping oil-bags to skin the deep's unrest --And you aren't one knot the nearer to the Islands of the Blest!
But when you're threshing, crippled, with broken bridge and rail,At a drogue of dead convictions to hold you head to gale,Calm as the Flying Dutchman, from truck to taffrail dressed,You'll see the old three-decker for the Islands of the Blest.
You'll see her tiering canvas in sheeted silver spread;You'll hear the long-drawn thunder 'neath her leaping figure-head;While far, so far above you, her tall poop-lanterns shineUnvexed by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine!
Hull down -- hull down and under -- she dwindles to a speck,With noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck.All's well -- all's well aboard her -- she's left you far behind,With a scent of old-world roses through the fog that ties you blind.
Her crew are babes or madmen? Her port is all to make?You're manned by Truth and Science, and you steam for steaming's sake?Well, tinker up your engines -- you know your business best --She's taking tired people to the Islands of the Blest!
Words in this poem 21
- towered a.
- Adorned or defended by towers.
- packet n.
- A small pack or package; a little bundle or parcel; as, a packet of letters. [F. paquet, dim. fr. LL. paccus, from the same source as E. pack. See Pack.]
- titled a.
- Having or bearing a title.
- parentage n.
- Descent from parents or ancestors; parents or ancestors considered with respect to their rank or character; extraction; birth; as, a man of noble parentage. [Cf. F. parentage relationship.]
- obstetrics n.
- The science of midwifery; the art of assisting women in parturition, or in the trouble incident to childbirth. [Cf. F. obstétrique. See Obstetric.]
- gangway n.
- A passage or way into or out of any inclosed place; esp., a temporary way of access formed of planks. [See Gang, v. i.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- county n.
- An earldom; the domain of a count or earl. [F. comt, fr. LL. comitatus. See Count.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- route n.
- The course or way which is traveled or passed, or is to be passed; a passing; a course; a road or path; a march. [OE. & F. route, OF. rote, fr. L. rupta (sc. via), fr. ruptus, p.p. of rumpere to break; hence, literally, a broken or beaten way or path. See Rout, and cf. Rut ]
- cruise v. i.
- To sail back and forth on the ocean; to sail, as for the potection of commerce, in search of an enemy, for plunder, or for pleasure. [D. kruisen to move crosswise or in a zigzag, to cruise, fr. kruis cross, fr. OF. crois, croiz, F. croix, or directly fr. OF. croisier, F. croiser, to cross, cru]
- damn v. t.
- To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment; to sentence; to censhure. [OE. damnen dap), OF. damner, dampner, F. damner, fr. L. damnare, damnatum, to condemn, fr. damnum damage, a fine, penalty. Cf. Condemn, Damage.]
- liner n.
- One who lines, as, a liner of shoes.
- bucking n.
- The act or process of soaking or boiling cloth in an alkaline liquid in the operation of bleaching; also, the liquid used.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- crippled a.
- Lamed; lame; disabled; impeded.
- dutchman n.
- A native, or one of the people, of Holland. Dutchman's breeches (Bot.), a perennial American herb (Dicentra cucullaria), with peculiar double-spurred flowers. See Illust. of Dicentra.
- taffrail n.
- The upper part of a ship's stern, which is flat like a table on the top, and sometimes ornamented with carved work; the rail around a ship's stern. [D. tafereel a panel, picture, fr. tafel table, fr. L. tabula. See Table.]
- aboard adv.
- On board; into or within a ship or boat; hence, into or within a railway car. [Pref. a- on, in + board.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Three-Decker 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 Three-Decker, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/the-three-decker.html, id L16830.
Form and metre
The Three-Decker is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 10 of its 12 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.5 syllables. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 railA · sailA · bestB · blestB
- 2 AABB prayersA · heirsA · confessedB · blestB
- 3 AABB cookA · tookA · unguessedB · blestB
- 4 AABB shameA · cameA · hellB · tellB
- 5 AABB nearedA · cheeredA · mastB · lastB
- 6 --AA decks · cheques · caressedA · blestA
- 7 AABB againA · spainA · cruiseB · screwsB
- 8 --AA peace · seas · unrestA · blestA
- 9 AABB railA · galeA · dressedB · blestB
- 10 AABB spreadA · headA · shineB · shrineB
- 11 AABB speckA · deckA · behindB · blindB
- 12 AABB makeA · sakeA · bestB · blestB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Full thirty foot she towered from waterline to rail. | 11 | ·/˘··/·/˘·· |
| It cost a watch to steer her, and a week to shorten sail; | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| But, spite all modern notions, I found her first and best -- | 13 | ···/˘/˘······ |
| The only certain packet for the Islands of the Blest. | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Fair held the breeze behind us -- 'twas warm with lovers' prayers. | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| We'd stolen wills for ballast and a crew of missing heirs. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| They shipped as Able Bastards till the Wicked Nurse confessed, | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And they worked the old three-decker to the Islands of the Blest. | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| By ways no gaze could follow, a course unspoiled of Cook, | 13 | ·····/˘··˘/·· |
| Per Fancy, fleetest in man, our titled berths we took | 13 | ·/˘/˘··//˘··· |
| With maids of matchless beauty and parentage unguessed, | 12 | ···/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And a Church of England parson for the Islands of the Blest. | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| We asked no social questions -- we pumped no hidden shame -- | 13 | ···/˘/˘···/˘· |
| We never talked obstetrics when the Little Stranger came: | 13 | ·/·˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| We left the Lord in Heaven, we left the fiends in Hell. | 12 | ·····/······ |
| We weren't exactly Yussufs, but -- Zuleika didn't tell. | 15 | ·/˘˘/˘······/˘· |
| No moral doubt assailed us, so when the port we neared, | 13 | ·/˘·˘/······· |
| The villain had his flogging at the gangway, and we cheered. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| 'Twas fiddle in the forc's'le -- 'twas garlands on the mast, | 13 | ·/˘·····/˘··· |
| For every one got married, and I went ashore at last. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘···˘/·· |
| I left 'em all in couples a-kissing on the decks. | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘··· |
| I left the lovers loving and the parents signing cheques. | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| In endless English comfort by county-folk caressed, | 13 | ·/˘/˘/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| I left the old three-decker at the Islands of the Blest! | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| That route is barred to steamers: you'll never lift again | 12 | ·····/˘·/·˘/ |
| Our purple-painted headlands or the lordly keeps of Spain. | 14 | //˘/˘····/˘··· |
| They're just beyond your skyline, howe'er so far you cruise | 13 | ·····/······· |
| In a ram-you-damn-you liner with a brace of bucking screws. | 14 | ······/····/˘· |
| Swing round your aching search-light -- 'twill show no haven's peace. | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| Ay, blow your shrieking sirens to the deaf, gray-bearded seas! | 14 | ···/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Boom out the dripping oil-bags to skin the deep's unrest -- | 13 | ···/˘······˘/ |
| And you aren't one knot the nearer to the Islands of the Blest! | 16 | ··/˘···/˘··/˘··· |
| But when you're threshing, crippled, with broken bridge and rail, | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| At a drogue of dead convictions to hold you head to gale, | 14 | ·····˘/˘······ |
| Calm as the Flying Dutchman, from truck to taffrail dressed, | 13 | ···/˘/˘···/˘· |
| You'll see the old three-decker for the Islands of the Blest. | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| You'll see her tiering canvas in sheeted silver spread; | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘/˘· |
| You'll hear the long-drawn thunder 'neath her leaping figure-head; | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘/˘· |
| While far, so far above you, her tall poop-lanterns shine | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| Unvexed by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine! | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| Hull down -- hull down and under -- she dwindles to a speck, | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| With noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck. | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| All's well -- all's well aboard her -- she's left you far behind, | 13 | ····˘/······· |
| With a scent of old-world roses through the fog that ties you blind. | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Her crew are babes or madmen? Her port is all to make? | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| You're manned by Truth and Science, and you steam for steaming's sake? | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| Well, tinker up your engines -- you know your business best -- | 13 | ·/˘··/˘···/˘· |
| She's taking tired people to the Islands of the Blest! | 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.