Another revelation. Another unforgettable poem. I never knew Kipling was a poet of such power. Thank you! I got additional thrills and chills hearing the poem (unattributed to Kipling) sung by someone called Peter Bellamy as a raw lament, here.
Thank you for this thoughtful analysis; I'm not sure I would have seen the way those images work throughout the poem. The poem makes me think of Tennyson's "Ulysses" but of course from the opposite viewpoint.
I like your comparison with Tennyson's "Ulysses," as it freshens my thinking about the imaginative impulse behind Tennyson's brilliant poem--Tennyson, a poet cosseted if ever there was one in his long marriage to Emily (for this I recommend Emily Tennyson: The Poet's Wife, by Ann Thwaite, herself the wife of a poet. Of course, the comparison also highlights in my mind the contrasting later years of Kipling, to whom fate brought painful personal losses. I can't help by feel his own impulse came from the going away (to battle and death) of his own son (though the dates may contradict this speculative thought). What a wonderful commentary Professor Roberts provides; I love his scansion, always my challenge.
The poem is so affecting on its own. But the analysis takes understanding higher and deeper. And as the wife of a sailor (he's the skipper, I'm competent but unenthusiastic crew), I get those Danish wives.
Wonderful poem and wonderful analysis!
To my ear, at least, every line very clearly has four *beats*; it simply has some heavy offbeats (such as “grey” in line 3).
The Dane wives, and their husbands, saved in the South of England, due to mistress, dead in the North, perhaps for the lack of one.
Another revelation. Another unforgettable poem. I never knew Kipling was a poet of such power. Thank you! I got additional thrills and chills hearing the poem (unattributed to Kipling) sung by someone called Peter Bellamy as a raw lament, here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KIDam7MR4M
Thanks for bringing to us a poet and poem rarely read and discussion this century, or much of the lasst
Thank you for this thoughtful analysis; I'm not sure I would have seen the way those images work throughout the poem. The poem makes me think of Tennyson's "Ulysses" but of course from the opposite viewpoint.
I like your comparison with Tennyson's "Ulysses," as it freshens my thinking about the imaginative impulse behind Tennyson's brilliant poem--Tennyson, a poet cosseted if ever there was one in his long marriage to Emily (for this I recommend Emily Tennyson: The Poet's Wife, by Ann Thwaite, herself the wife of a poet. Of course, the comparison also highlights in my mind the contrasting later years of Kipling, to whom fate brought painful personal losses. I can't help by feel his own impulse came from the going away (to battle and death) of his own son (though the dates may contradict this speculative thought). What a wonderful commentary Professor Roberts provides; I love his scansion, always my challenge.
The poem is so affecting on its own. But the analysis takes understanding higher and deeper. And as the wife of a sailor (he's the skipper, I'm competent but unenthusiastic crew), I get those Danish wives.
A splendid analysis—thank you! Good poetry is always worth diving into in this fashion.
Thank you, beautifully said.