Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 / Bombay)

when the hunters go for the seal hunting, using the dog carriages, they identified a male seal and killed that and the female seal will lose its male, but the male hunters return to their females...I think this is the meaning of this poem! Great! Kipling Sir! I can smell the Indian flavor in your poem!

they were hunting baby seals for their fur.

Nature is a cruel selector. Kipling understood that.

this peom is goddamn weird. most of words are so weird that i didnot understood the whole poem. whats it really about? so sorry i disliked it. i cant understand the real concept. language used is unable to figure out

i wonder what language
does the poem's title?

There is no cruelty here - this is a poem decribing man's way of surviving for millions of years. The seal eats fish, man eats seal. This poem is as sharp as the lance that takes the seal.

Kipling had a way of capturing life on the page.

The important setting of Kipling’s poem, ‘the edge of the floe’, repeated to end all six stanzas is key, to the multiple themes. The poem identifies the dangers of the extreme cold immediately focused upon with the opening line ‘Our gloves are stiff with the frozen blood’. Blood stiff on gloves in the harsh cold, introduces relentless killers and their excitement of closing upon the prey. ‘As we come in with the seal-the seal’ is a line of exhilaration. This is Man in triumph against nature, the environment, with ‘gloves... stiff with the frozen blood’ and their clothing, protective furs, frozen from ‘the drifted snow’. The great adventure is paramount, ‘the yelping dog-teams’, ‘the long whips crack’ leads into the journey, tracking ‘seal to his secret place’ and the descriptive technique in the thrill of the hunt. The ambush spot, the waiting, the irony of the killing lance of death being driven into the seal, as they surface for the breath of life. The merciless enjoyed cruelty of this hunting, impacts with ‘And we played him thus, and we killed him thus’. Kipling reinforces this cruelty like the cat toying with a mouse, as imagery of heartless indifference. The conclusion with the safe return home and joy of reunion with wives, who run at the sound of their men's voices is brilliant. A dangerous livelihood is won at risk of peril, a time of rejoicing and bounty will ensue for a while.

Kipling has clearly depicted the picture of Arctic seal hunting very well in this beautiful poem! A very simple and effective poem to read!

The poem is vivid and discriptive what a brilliant poet. At least the killing was for food and not for so called sport. Frozen blood for me says it all.