An Analysis of Rudyard Kipling's "The Bridegroom"
An Eternal Marriage:
Analysis of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Bridegroom”
During the First World War, death was a constant threat. Soldiers faced it every day in the trenches, and more succumbed to it. Rudyard Kipling’s Epitaphs of War represents the impact those deaths had across much of the world. “The Bridegroom” exposes the last thoughts of a dying soldier through an extended metaphor, personification and tone. First of all, the title and first stanza reveal that the speaker, a young soldier, is either dying or already dead. Traditionally, a bridegroom defines a man on his wedding day. In this poem, Kipling personifies the bride as death and therefore the title refers to a man on his last day. The speaker is a soldier fighting in the trenches, writing or at least speaking out to his wife back home. The first stanza initiates the apologetic and sorrowful tone that is used throughout the poem. The soldier asks his wife not to call him “false” as he rests in other arms. He apologizes to his beloved for abandoning her for a new mistress, death. The arms not only represent death’s embrace, but they also evoke falling to the weapons of the enemy in battle. The stanza also demonstrates that the couple’s marriage is recent as the speaker mentions his wife’s “scarce-known breast.” The second stanza clearly brings forward the poem’s theme. The soldier mentions his “more ancient bride,” death. She is qualified as ancient because she has always existed, not only with him but since the beginning of time. He also describes a cold embrace, the word cold working on several levels here. It refers to the deceased and his rigidity, but it also expresses his reluctance to follow death. By calling her “constant,” Kipling emphasizes the reality of death on the battlefield; she was faithful and always lurked over the soldier. The third stanza describes how the young man escaped from his “often set marriage” with death through unexplained miracles. We can suppose that he narrowly
Analysis of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Bridegroom”
During the First World War, death was a constant threat. Soldiers faced it every day in the trenches, and more succumbed to it. Rudyard Kipling’s Epitaphs of War represents the impact those deaths had across much of the world. “The Bridegroom” exposes the last thoughts of a dying soldier through an extended metaphor, personification and tone. First of all, the title and first stanza reveal that the speaker, a young soldier, is either dying or already dead. Traditionally, a bridegroom defines a man on his wedding day. In this poem, Kipling personifies the bride as death and therefore the title refers to a man on his last day. The speaker is a soldier fighting in the trenches, writing or at least speaking out to his wife back home. The first stanza initiates the apologetic and sorrowful tone that is used throughout the poem. The soldier asks his wife not to call him “false” as he rests in other arms. He apologizes to his beloved for abandoning her for a new mistress, death. The arms not only represent death’s embrace, but they also evoke falling to the weapons of the enemy in battle. The stanza also demonstrates that the couple’s marriage is recent as the speaker mentions his wife’s “scarce-known breast.” The second stanza clearly brings forward the poem’s theme. The soldier mentions his “more ancient bride,” death. She is qualified as ancient because she has always existed, not only with him but since the beginning of time. He also describes a cold embrace, the word cold working on several levels here. It refers to the deceased and his rigidity, but it also expresses his reluctance to follow death. By calling her “constant,” Kipling emphasizes the reality of death on the battlefield; she was faithful and always lurked over the soldier. The third stanza describes how the young man escaped from his “often set marriage” with death through unexplained miracles. We can suppose that he narrowly