Engine rooms, merchant decks, colonial towns and the long sea lanes of the British Empire fill this 1896 collection. It opens with the ringing “A Song of the English” and moves through chanteys, ballads and dramatic monologues, among them “McAndrew’s Hymn,” in which an old Scots engineer finds Calvinist theology in the rhythm of his machines.
Kipling at the height of his popular power; the imperial confidence is very much of 1896, but the craft of the verse is undeniable. Download the free EPUB.