A Pict Song
A Pict Song - meaning Summary
Underminers of Imperial Power
Kipling’s poem gives voice to the “Little Folk,” the unseen, powerless masses who quietly undermine imperial power. Through images of mistletoe, rats and moths, the speakers claim patient, corrosive influence rather than open strength. They accept past subjection but promise eventual vindication: not by sudden revolt but by slow decay, allied with stronger peoples, until the proud rulers perish and the oppressed outlast them.
Read Complete AnalysesRome never looks where she treads. Always her heavy hooves fall On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads; And Rome never heeds when we bawl. Her sentries pass on--that is all, And we gather behind them in hordes, And plot to reconquer the Wall, With only our tongues for our swords. We are the Little Folk--we! Too little to love or to hate. Leave us alone and you'll see How we can drag down the State! We are the worm in the wood! We are the rot at the root! We are the taint in the blood! We are the thorn in the foot! Mistletoe killing an oak-- Rats gnawing cables in two-- Moths making holes in a cloak-- How they must love what they do! Yes--and we Little Folk too, We are busy as they-- Working our works out of view-- Watch, and you'll see it some day! No indeed! We are not strong, But we know Peoples that are. Yes, and we'll guide them along To smash and destroy you in War! We shall be slaves just the same? Yes, we have always been slaves, But you--you will die of the shame, And then we shall dance on your graves! We are the Little Folk, we, etc.
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