Verses 1889-1896

by Rudyard Kipling from 1889–1896

About

Kipling's collected verse from his peak decade includes 'If,' 'The White Man's Burden,' 'Mandalay,' 'Gunga Din,' and the 'Barrack-Room Ballads' that made him the most popular poet in the English-speaking world. His poetry is inseparable from imperialism's moral contradictions — celebrating working-class soldiers while endorsing the empire that ground them up — but it remains extraordinarily powerful as oral performance. The ballads are designed to be spoken aloud; their rhythms and refrains lodge in memory with ease.

Victorian Lyrical Solemn Moving Defianten

Verses 1889-1896

Words: 56.1k
Duration: ~7 hr 1 min

30 sections

56.1k words

#TitleWords

1

—

220:10

2

Beyond the path of the outmost sun through utter darkness hurled --

50:02

3

I have made for you a song,

110:05

4

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

10:00

5

We've fought with many men acrost the seas,

90:04

6

Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,

150:07

7

You may talk o' gin and beer

10:00

8

Wot makes the soldier's 'eart to penk, wot makes 'im to perspire?

10:00

9

If you've ever stole a pheasant-egg be'ind the keeper's back,

10:00

10

This 'appened in a battle to a batt'ry of the corps,

130:06

11

There was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dublin Quay,

40:02

12

When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East,

10:00

13

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,

10:00

14

Troopin', troopin', troopin' to the sea,

140:06

15

Kabul town's by Kabul river,

10:00

16

To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned,

20:01

17

We're marchin' on relief over Injia's sunny plains,

30:01

18

My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the Revelly,

9467:06

19

Beyond the path of the outmost sun through utter darkness hurled --

3502:38

20

I have made for you a song,

3972:59

21

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,

4493:22

22

We've fought with many men acrost the seas,

7855:53

23

Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,

8456:20

24

You may talk o' gin and beer

5604:12

25

Wot makes the soldier's 'eart to penk, wot makes 'im to perspire?

4593:27

26

If you've ever stole a pheasant-egg be'ind the keeper's back,

1.3k9:54

27

There was a row in Silver Street that's near to Dublin Quay,

1.1k7:55

28

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea,

1.5k10:54

29

To the legion of the lost ones, to the cohort of the damned,

3962:58

30

We're marchin' on relief over Injia's sunny plains,

47k352:30

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