greykit.poetry — #soldiers

• 1903 [rudyard-kipling] Boots
  The Five Nations

  The hypnotic, maddening tramp of infantry on an endless route-march (“Infantry Columns”).

  #soldiers#marching#1900s
• 1892 [rudyard-kipling] Gentlemen-Rankers
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  The lament of well-born men sunk to the ranks — “poor little lambs who’ve lost our way.”

  #soldiers#lament#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Danny Deever
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A hanging at dawn, told in the whispers of the men paraded to watch it.

  #ballad#soldiers#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Ford o’ Kabul River
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A cavalryman grieves the mate he lost fording the river in the dark.

  #ballad#soldiers#grief#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Fuzzy-Wuzzy
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A soldier’s backhanded salute to the Sudanese warrior who broke the British square.

  #ballad#soldiers#sudan#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Gunga Din
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A soldier’s rough tribute to the native water-carrier who outdid them all.

  #ballad#india#soldiers#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Mandalay
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A time-expired soldier in grey London aches for Burma, a girl, and the road east.

  #ballad#burma#soldiers#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Screw-Guns
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A mountain-battery gunner’s swagger from the passes of the North-West Frontier.

  #ballad#soldiers#artillery#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] The Widow at Windsor
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  The Empire’s long reach, sung by the men who garrison it for “the Widow” — Queen Victoria.

  #ballad#soldiers#empire#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] The Young British Soldier
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  A grizzled veteran’s blunt, brutal advice to the raw recruit shipped out East.

  #ballad#soldiers#india#1890s
• 1890 [rudyard-kipling] Tommy
  Barrack-Room Ballads

  The soldier scorned in peacetime and cheered in war answers back.

  #soldiers#satire#1890s