An analysis on Rudyard Kipling’s The Way Through the Woods

  靳亦诗

   Rudyard Kipling, who was born in British India, was one of the most well-known writers in English in the late 19th and early 20th century. Kipling emerged very early as a versatile and popular journalist, poet, and children’s writer. He earned his fame and success early at 21, when his poems and stories were appearing in abundance in both India and England. In 1907, Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which made him the first writer in English to receive the prize. He was also the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Till now, Kipling’s children’s books are still classics of children’s literature. He is regarded as a master in short story. The best known literature work of Kipling is The Jungle Book, a collection of short stories including Kim, The Man Who Would Be King. As a poet, Kipling also earned great fame. He was known as the British Poet Laureateship and had twice refused a knighthood. Many of his poetry works are widely-known all through the world. The Way Through the Woods, which will be analyzed in the following part, is one of his master works written in 1910, in Modernism period.

    Distinctiveness

    The two stanzas in this poem are not exactly the same in form. There are 12 lines in the first stanza and 13 lines in the second. In the second stanza, there’s one sentence in bracket: (They fear not men in the woods, Because they see so few). I think this is to explain the upper line, so the bracket indicates the purpose of this sentence, which is visually distinctive.

Compared with some other poets of Modernism, such as Eliot, Pound or James Joyce, Kipling’s language is realistically and provocatively based on the diction and syntax of everyday speech. In this poem, this kind of language style is well reflected. Most of the diction is rather simple and easy to understand. “Trout-ringed” may be a new compound, yet it is not difficult to understand. Personification is one characteristic of this poem. For instance, “That, where the ring-dove broods”, and “Where the otter whistle his mate”. Symbolism also appears frequently in this poem. “the road through the woods” which appears repeatedly may symbolize things happened in the past or people of the past. In “Seventy years ago”, “seventy years” may stand for the life span of human beings. In the second stanza, “You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet, And the swish of a skirt in the dew” are the most controversial lines of this poem. Some people understand “the swish of a skirt” as a ghost, yet some people consider it as a woman whom the poet could not be with. Anyway, these two lines are very symbolic and different people may have different understanding.

   Excessive Regularities

   Inside rhythm is employed in this poem, for instance in line 3 “Weather and rain have undone it again”, rain and again are inside rhythm; in line 7 “It is underneath the coppice and heath”, “underneath”,” coppice” and “heath” are inside rhythm; and in line 19 “You will hear the beat of a horse’s feet”, “beat” and “feet” are inside rhythm. Also there are end rhythms, such as woods, trees, heath, sees, broods, ease and woods in the first stanza. In the second stanza there are late, mate and feet; few, dew, knew. The above is some typical examples of rhythm in this poem, but not all the rhythm appears in this poem. Alliteration can also be found in this poem. For instance in the first stanza, there are they, there, that and there.

The phrase “the road through the woods” has been repeated many times in this poem, which is because the road may has some kind of special symbolic meaning the author tries to indicate. The last lines of the first and second stanzas are parallel structure, just to show a kind of contrast that the road used to exist has vanished now.

   Interpretation

   As the phrase “the way through the woods” has repeatedly appeared in this poem, I reckon it as the emphasis of this poem. According to my understanding, “the way through the road” may refer to the life journey of mankind, which exists for some time and finally vanishes, yet there is still some mysterious spirit not vanishing with the life of mankind. Some information in the poem can clue to my understanding. For instance, “seventy years” may refer to the average life span of mankind. In the second stanza, “the beat of a horse’s feet, And the swish of a skirt in the dew” can be ghost of spirit of some bygone.

   Ambiguity and Effectiveness

   Some information in the poem is controversial and ambiguous. For instance, in the first line “They shut the road through the woods”, what does “they” refer to? In the second stanza, “As though they perfectly knew”, who are “they” here? There are all ambiguous and different readers may have different understanding.

The realistic, easy understanding yet symbolic diction of this poem successfully creates a kind of mysterious mood. The poem is written in second person, such as “if you enter the woods” and “you will hear the beat of a horse’s feet”, showing a kind of detachment which also increase the mystery of the poem. The personification increases the artistic charm of the poetry. Generally speaking, the poem is easy understanding yet abundant in symbolic meanings.

（作者单位：中原工学院）