Rhyme--Angela Maske

The Verdicts by Rudyard Kipling

Not in the thick of the fight,

    Not in the press of the odds,

Do the heroes come to their height,

    Or we know the demi-gods.

That stands over till peace.

    We can only perceive

Men returned from the seas,

    Very grateful for leave.

They grant us sudden days

    Snatched from their business of war;

But we are too close to appraise

    What manner of men they are.

And, whether their names go down

    With age-kept victories,

Or whether they battle and drown

    Unreckoned, is hid from our eyes.

They are too near to be great,

    But our children shall understand

When and how our fate

    Was changed, and by whose hand.

Our children shall measure their worth.

    We are content to be blind . . .

But we know that we walk on a new-born earth

    With the saviours of mankind.

Kipling, Rudyard. "The Verdicts." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014.


This poem speaks of the heroic deeds and valor of soldiers. It has an ABAB rhyme scheme that creates a consistent, rhythmic flow that mirrors the slightly melancholy, but still patriotic, tone. It reveals how often the victory and courage exhibited by soldiers goes unrecognized. Kipling posits that men who return from war alive can barely receive the glory the deserve, while those who die for their country are not able to at all. Kipling refers to these unrecognized soldiers vaguely as "they," implying the great number of these cases. The ABAB rhyme scheme emphasizes each of the alternating lines and connects them, constructing both a holistic point in each stanza as a whole and with each rhyming line. The rhyme scheme also emphasizes the final word of each line, which convey important points themselves...in the first stanza, for example, the most important words of the stanza rhyme: "fight," "odds," "height," and "demigods." The result is a beautifully rhythmic poem that emphasizes the struggles and strengths of soldiers.