The Nurses Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ GKGK LMLM ENEN| When with a pain he desires to explain to the multitude Baby | A |
| Howls himself black in the face toothlessly striving to curse | B |
| And the six months old Mother begins to enquire of the Gods if it may be | A |
| Tummy or Temper or Pins what does the adequate Nurse | B |
| - | |
| See At one turn of her head the trouble is guessed and thereafter | C |
| She juggles unscared by his throes with drops of hot water and spoons | D |
| Till the hiccoughs are broken by smiles and the smiles pucker up into laughter | C |
| And he lies o'er her shoulder and crows and she as she nurses him croons | D |
| - | |
| When at the head of the grade tumultuous out of the cutting | E |
| Pours the belated Express roars at the night and draws dear | F |
| Redly obscured or displayed by her fire door's opening and shutting | E |
| Symbol of strength under stress what does her small engineer | F |
| - | |
| Clamour and darkness encircle his way Do they deafen or blind him | G |
| No nor the pace he must keep He being used to these things | H |
| Placidly follows his work which is laying his mileage behind him | G |
| While his passengers trustfully sleep and he as he handles her sings | H |
| - | |
| When with the gale at her heel the barque lies down and recovers | I |
| Rolling through forty degrees combing the stars with her tops | J |
| What says the man at the wheel holding her straight as she hovers | I |
| On the summits of wind screening seas steadying her as she drops | J |
| - | |
| Behind him the blasts without check from the Pole to the Tropic pursue him | G |
| Heaving up heaping high slamming home the surges he must not regard | K |
| Beneath him the crazy wet deck and all Ocean on end to undo him | G |
| Above him one desperate sail thrice reefed but still buckling the yard | K |
| - | |
| Under his hand fleet the spokes and return to be held or set free again | L |
| And she bows and makes shift to obey their behest till the master wave comes | M |
| And her gunnel goes under in thunder and smokes and she chokes in the trough of the sea again | L |
| Ere she can lift and make way to its crest and he as he nurses her hums | M |
| - | |
| These have so utterly mastered their work that they work without thinking | E |
| Holding three fifths of their brain in reserve for whatever betide | N |
| So when catastrophe threatens of colic collision or sinking | E |
| They shunt the full gear into train and take the small thing in their stride | N |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Nurses poem by Rudyard Kipling
Best Poems of Rudyard Kipling