The Five Nations Explained

The Five Nations, a collection of poems by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), was first published in late 1903, both in the United Kingdom ^[1] and the U.S.A.^[2] Some of the poems were new; some had been published before (notably "Recessional"" in 1897), sometimes in different versions.

Description

In 1903, the United Kingdom consisted of four nations: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It was soon suggested that Kipling's "five nations" were the "five free nations of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa [i.e. Cape Colony], and 'the islands of the sea' [i.e. the British Isles]" ^[3] —all dominated by Britons; and except in the last case, by recent settlers. That suggestion was endorsed some one hundred years later.^[4]

In an early (1903) review, American critic Bliss Perry delicately called The Five Nations both "a notable collection" and "singularly restricted in range of interest".

The poems

The poems are divided into two groups. The first is untitled, and covers a wide range of subjects. The second is titled "Service Songs", and mostly relates to the real or imagined experiences of common British soldiers around the turn of the 20th century.

The untitled group

• "Dedication"
• "The Sea and the Hills"
• "The Bell Buoy"
• "Cruisers"^[5]
• "The Destroyers"^[6]
• "White Horses"^[7]
• "The Second Voyage"
• "The Dykes"
• "The Song of Diego Valdez"^[8]
• "The Broken Men"
• "The Feet of the Young Men"
• "The Truce of the Bear"
• "The Old Men"
• "The Explorer"
• "The Wage-Slaves"
• "The Burial"
• "General Joubert"^[9]
• "The Palace"
• "Sussex"^[10]
• "Song of the Wise Children"
• "Buddha at Kamakura"^[11]
• "The White Man's Burden"
• "Pharaoh and the Sergeant"
• "Our Lady of the Snows"
• "'Et Dona Ferentes'"
• "Kitchener's School"^[12]
• "The Young Queen"
• "Rimmon"^[13]
• "The Old Issue"
• "Bridge-Guard in the Karroo"^[14]
• "The Lesson"
• "The Files"
• "The Reformers"
• "Dirge of Dead Sisters"
• "The Islanders"
• "The Peace of Dives"^[15]
• "South Africa"
• "The Settler"

Service Songs

• "Chant-Pagan"
• "M.I."^[16]
• "Columns"
• "The Parting of the Columns"
• "Two Kopjes"^[17]
• "The Instructor"
• "Boots"
• "The Married Man"
• "Lichtenberg"^[18]
• "Stellenbosh"^[19]
• "Half-Ballad of Waterval"^[20]
• "Piet"
• "'Wilful-Missing'"
• "Ubique"
• "The Return"
• "Recessional"

Notes and References

1. Book: Kipling, Rudyard . The Five Nations . 1903 . . London . B00TXCD0YY.
2. Book: Kipling, Rudyard . The Five Nations . October 1903 . . New York . B00220I242.
3. Mr. Kipling's Five Nations . Bliss . Bliss Perry . Perry . December 1903 . . 6 April 2017.
4. Web site: The Five Nations: A note on the background . Mary . Hamer . . 6 August 2014 . 5 April 2017.
5. A cruiser is a warship.
6. A destroyer is a warship.
7. White horses are wind-driven waves of the sea, crowned with white foam.
8. (1533–1596), Spanish conquistador.
9. An epitaph on Piet Joubert (1831/34 – 1900), Boer general.
10. Allegedly, the inspiration for the song "Sussex by the Sea".
11. [Kamakura]
12. [Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener]
13. Rimmon, a Syrian deity mentioned in the Hebrew Bible at 2 Kings 5:18, usually equated to Baal.
14. [Karroo]
15. Dives, the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
16. M.I. were mounted infantry.
17. A kopje is an isolated rocky hill or outcrop in the South African plains.
18. [Lichtenburg, North West|Lichtenburg]
19. [Stellenbosch]
20. [Waterval]