To T. a
I have made for you a song,And it may be right or wrong,But only you can tell me if it's true;I have tried for to explainBoth your pleasure and your pain,And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you!
O there'll surely come a dayWhen they'll give you all your pay,And treat you as a Christian ought to do;So, until that day comes round,Heaven keep you safe and sound,And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you!
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To T. a 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, To T. a, in Verses 1889–1896 (1889–1896), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #323, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/kipling-verses/to-t-a.html, id L16740.
Form and metre
To T. a is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 17% 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 AABCCB songA · wrongA · trueB · explainC · painC · youB
- 2 AABCCB dayA · payA · doB · roundC · soundC · youB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have made for you a song, | 7 | ······· |
| And it may be right or wrong, | 7 | ······· |
| But only you can tell me if it's true; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| I have tried for to explain | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Both your pleasure and your pain, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you! | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| O there'll surely come a day | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| When they'll give you all your pay, | 7 | ······· |
| And treat you as a Christian ought to do; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| So, until that day comes round, | 7 | ······· |
| Heaven keep you safe and sound, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And, Thomas, here's my best respects to you! | 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.