The Conundrum of the Workshops

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1890

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Poetic Form and Structure

“The Conundrum of the Workshops” contains eight quatrains (four-line stanzas). The length of the lines oscillates between 16 and 18 syllables, with the simple rhyme scheme: aabb. Each stanza consists of two rhyming couplets (successive pairs of lines that rhyme with each other). The first line rhymes with the second line and the third line with the fourth line. When rhyming words end with identical vowel and consonant sounds, they make a so-called perfect rhyme. For example, gold/mold in Lines 1 and 2 or gain/Cain in Lines 7 and 8. That is true even when the rhyming words are spelled very differently, such as flow/ago in Lines 29 and 30 or through/knew in Lines 31 and 32, because the final sounds are the same: /ou/ and /u:/. This differs from what is called slant rhyme (or half rhyme), in which either the vowel or the consonant in the rhyming words do not fully match. For example, hat/bad share the same vowel, but not the final consonant, whereas cut/mat share the same final consonant, but not the preceding vowel.

In addition to end rhymes discussed above, Kipling’s poem contains occasional internal rhymes, which is when words within the same line rhyme with each other: knows/grows in Line 18 or hears/nears in Line 19. Such rhymes strengthen the aural cohesion of the stanza without creating the strong pause that typically occurs at the end of lines. They also create the sing-song quality characteristic of traditional ballads and popular songs, such as those Kipling enjoyed in the music halls. While “The Conundrum” is not a ballad, it reveals (especially in the fifth and sixth stanzas) Kipling’s fondness for the speech of ordinary people. Expressions such as “new as the new-cut tooth” (Line 17) or “lip-thatch” (Line 18) sound like products of regular folks’ linguistic creativity. The use of the common sayings “the tail wagging the dog” and “putting the cart before the horse” (Line 23) reinforces the impression that the poem communicates common wisdom to common people.

Refrain

In poetry, a refrain is any word or phrase that is repeated in multiple lines. The repetition emphasizes the word’s or phrase’s significance for the poem’s meaning and creates a sense of its growing impact, and sometimes subtle modification. The main refrain in this poem is the question: “Is it Art?” Repeated in every stanza except the last, the question gains a nagging quality that reflects Kipling’s point, which is that constant interrogation of the meaning of art can only hamper its production. This linguistic repetition also imitates the historically recurrent and lasting nature of human efforts to create and understand art. The modification lies in the verbs which introduce the question in successive stanzas. The Devil first “whispered” (Line 4), then “chuckled” (Line 8), “grunted” (Line 10), “bubbled” (Line 16), “drum[med]” (Line 20), “whooped” (Line 24), and finally “muttered” (Line 28). The verbs suggest that the Devil’s voice gains strength and becomes louder as the human race increasingly succumbs to his sowing of doubt. Finally, by the time of the poem’s creation in 19th-century London (Line 25), humans have internalized his question so fully that he merely has to mutter it. The similarity between the Devil’s whispering in the first stanza and his muttering in the seventh is one of the ways in which these stanzas parallel each other and create a sense of the question’s permanence in spite of the passage of time.

Anaphora and Parallelism

In addition to the question about art, Kipling deftly uses other forms of repetition to reinforce the poem’s meaning. One device he employs is anaphora, a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences, or poetic lines. Lines 21 and 22 both begin with the phrase “We have learned,” and Line 23 modifies it into “We know.” This is the only anaphora in the poem, which makes the stanza stand out. Kipling’s point is as follows: Through the centuries, people have acquired habits of thought and behavior that removed us from the innocence and confidence Adam and Eve had before the fall. The anaphora conveys the sense of long duration and repetitive nature of human actions, metaphorically presented in the stanza, which have alienated us from Eden.

That alienation is further manifested in the parallelism between the first and the seventh stanzas. Parallelism is a rhetorical device that compounds words or phrases with equivalent meaning to create a pattern. Many phrases in the seventh stanza parallel those in the first stanza in a way that emphasizes both similarities and differences. The “sons of Adam […] scratch with their pens” (Line 26) just like their father did with a stick (Line 2), and the Devil is still whispering or muttering the same question (Lines 4 and 28). However, dusk has replaced dawn and artificial colors have replaced natural beauty, just as Adam’s “joy” (Line 3) has been replaced by his son’s “anguish” (Line 27). [For a more detailed analysis of these stanzas, see Poem Analysis.]