The Return Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EEFF GHGHIJIJ KLKLMNNN OPOPQRQR STSTUVUV NUNUHUHU UJUJWXWX NNUU| Peace is declared and I return | A |
| To 'Ackneystadt but not the same | B |
| Things 'ave transpired which made me learn | A |
| The size and meanin' of the game | B |
| I did no more than others did | C |
| I don't know where the change began | D |
| I started as a average kid | C |
| I finished as a thinkin' man | D |
| - | |
| If England was what England seems | E |
| An' not the England of our dreams | E |
| But only putty brass an' paint | F |
| 'Ow quick we'd drop 'er But she ain't | F |
| - | |
| Before my gappin' mouth could speak | G |
| I 'eard it in my comrade's tone | H |
| I saw it on my neighbour's cheek | G |
| Before I felt it flush my own | H |
| An' last it come to me not pride | I |
| Nor yet conceit but on the 'ole | J |
| If such a term may be applied | I |
| The makin's of a bloomin' soul | J |
| - | |
| Rivers at night that cluck an' jeer | K |
| Plains which the moonshine turns to sea | L |
| Mountains that never let you near | K |
| An' stars to all eternity | L |
| An' the quick breathin' dark that fills | M |
| The 'ollows of the wilderness | N |
| When the wind worries through the 'ills | N |
| These may 'ave taught me more or less | N |
| - | |
| Towns without people ten times took | O |
| An' ten times left an' burned at last | P |
| An' starvin' dogs that come to look | O |
| For owners when a column passed | P |
| An' quiet 'omesick talks between | Q |
| Men met by night you never knew | R |
| Until 'is face by shellfire seen | Q |
| Once an' struck off They taught me too | R |
| - | |
| The day's lay out the mornin' sun | S |
| Beneath your 'at brim as you sight | T |
| The dinner 'ush from noon till one | S |
| An' the full roar that lasts till night | T |
| An' the pore dead that look so old | U |
| An' was so young an hour ago | V |
| An' legs tied down before they're cold | U |
| These are the things which make you know | V |
| - | |
| Also Time runnin' into years | N |
| A thousand Places left be'ind | U |
| An' Men from both two 'emispheres | N |
| Discussin' things of every kind | U |
| So much more near than I 'ad known | H |
| So much more great than I 'ad guessed | U |
| An' me like all the rest alone | H |
| But reachin' out to all the rest | U |
| - | |
| So 'ath it come to me not pride | U |
| Nor yet conceit but on the 'ole | J |
| If such a term may be applied | U |
| The makin's of a bloomin' soul | J |
| But now discharged I fall away | W |
| To do with little things again | X |
| Gawd 'oo knows all I cannot say | W |
| Look after me in Thamesfontein | X |
| - | |
| If England was what England seems | N |
| An' not the England of our dreams | N |
| But only putty brass an' paint | U |
| 'Ow quick we'd chuck 'er But she ain't | U |
Rudyard Kipling
(1)
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