Hymn Before Action
"Hymn Before Action" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1896. It takes the form of a prayer by troops to God and to Mary on the eve of battle.
Publication history and reception
The poem was inspired by the 1860 hymn The Church's One Foundation by Samuel John Stone. It was written and published in The Times at a time when news of the botched Jameson Raid of January 1896 reached Britain.[1] Accordingly, it has been read as an expression of foreboding about increasing Great Power hostility to Britain[2] – "The Nations in their harness / Go up against our path" – as a comment on filibustering and as an argument for responsible imperialism under God and the Law:[1]
From panic, pride, and terror,
Revenge that knows no rein,
Light haste and lawless error,
Protect us yet again.
Published in Kipling's 1896 collection of poetry, The Seven Seas, the patriotic hymn was among the works that consolidated Kipling's reputation as "The Laureate of Empire".[3] Roger Pocock, the founder of the Legion of Frontiersmen, did not appear to notice Kipling's complex vision of the imperial task when he praised the poem in a letter to Kipling as "the biggest thing you've written so far."[1]
In 1930, an English choir drew some attention by refusing to sing the hymn on account of its "pagan character". The choir's secretary argued that it might be appropriate for "troops of savages bent on slaughter," but presented "a primitive, unworthy conception of the Deity".[4]
The poem was set to music in 2000 by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins for his Mass setting The Armed Man.
Text
The earth is full of anger,
| For those who kneel beside us
| Ah, Mary pierced with sorrow,
|
References
- ^ a b c MacDonald, Robert H. (1994). The language of empire: myths and metaphors of popular imperialism, 1880-1918. Manchester University Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-7190-3749-8.
- ^ Boehmer, Elleke (2006). Colonial and postcolonial literature: migrant metaphors (2. ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-19-925371-5.
- ^ MacDonald, Robert H. (1994). The language of empire: myths and metaphors of popular imperialism, 1880-1918. Manchester University Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-7190-3749-8.
- ^ Henderson, Archibald (1930). Contemporary immortals. Ayer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8369-0533-5.
Bibliography
- Kipling, Rudyard (1896). The Seven Seas. London: Methuen. pp. 102–104.
- Various republications.
- v
- t
- e
- The Light That Failed (1891)
- The Naulahka: A Story of West and East (co-author, Wolcott Balestier, 1892)
- Captains Courageous (1896)
- Kim (1901)
- Plain Tales from the Hills (1888)
- Soldiers Three (1888)
- The Story of the Gadsbys (1888)
- In Black and White (1888)
- The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales (1888)
- Under the Deodars (1888)
- Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories (1888)
- From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel (1889)
- Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, poetry)
- Many Inventions (1893)
- The Jungle Book (1894)
- "Mowgli's Brothers"
- "Kaa's Hunting"
- "Tiger! Tiger!"
- "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"
- The Second Jungle Book (1895)
- "Letting in the Jungle"
- "Red Dog"
- All the Mowgli Stories (c. 1895)
- The Seven Seas (1896, poetry)
- The Day's Work (1898)
- Stalky & Co. (1899)
- Just So Stories (1902)
- The Five Nations (1903, poetry)
- Puck of Pook's Hill (1906)
- Rewards and Fairies (1910)
- The Fringes of the Fleet (1915, non-fiction)
- Debits and Credits (1926)
- Limits and Renewals (1932)
- Rudyard Kipling's Verse: Definitive Edition (1940)
- A Choice of Kipling's Verse (by T. S. Eliot, 1941)
- "The Absent-Minded Beggar"
- "The Ballad of the 'Clampherdown'"
- "The Ballad of East and West"
- "The Beginnings"
- "The Bell Buoy"
- "The Betrothed"
- "Big Steamers"
- "Boots"
- "Cold Iron"
- "Dane-geld"
- "Danny Deever"
- "A Death-Bed"
- "The Female of the Species"
- "Fuzzy-Wuzzy"
- "Gentleman ranker"
- "The Gods of the Copybook Headings"
- "Gunga Din"
- "Hymn Before Action"
- "If—"
- "In the Neolithic Age"
- "The King's Pilgrimage"
- "The Last of the Light Brigade"
- "The Lowestoft Boat"
- "Mandalay"
- "The Mary Gloster"
- "McAndrew's Hymn"
- "My Boy Jack"
- "Recessional"
- "A Song in Storm"
- "The Sons of Martha"
- "Submarines"
- "The Sweepers"
- "Tommy"
- "Ubique"
- "The White Man's Burden"
- ".007"
- "The Arrest of Lieutenant Golightly"
- "Baa Baa, Black Sheep"
- "Bread upon the Waters"
- "The Broken-Link Handicap"
- "The Butterfly that Stamped"
- "Consequences"
- "The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin"
- "Cupid's Arrows"
- "The Devil and the Deep Sea"
- "The Drums of the Fore and Aft"
- "Fairy-Kist"
- "False Dawn"
- "A Germ-Destroyer"
- "His Chance in Life"
- "His Wedded Wife"
- "In the House of Suddhoo"
- "Kidnapped"
- "Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris"
- "Lispeth"
- "The Man Who Would Be King"
- "A Matter of Fact"
- "Miss Youghal's Sais"
- "The Mother Hive"
- "The Other Man"
- "The Rescue of Pluffles"
- "The Ship that Found Herself"
- "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo"
- "The Taking of Lungtungpen"
- "Three and – an Extra"
- "The Three Musketeers"
- "Thrown Away"
- "Toomai of the Elephants"
- "Watches of the Night"
- "Wireless"
- "Yoked with an Unbeliever"
- Bibliography
- Bateman's (house)
- Indian Railway Library
- Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer
- Law of the jungle
- Aerial Board of Control
- My Boy Jack (1997 play)
- Rudyard Kipling: A Remembrance Tale (2006 documentary)
- My Boy Jack (2007 film)
- Caroline Starr Balestier Kipling (wife)
- Elsie Bambridge (daughter)
- John Kipling (son)
- John Lockwood Kipling (father)
- MacDonald sisters (mother's family)
- Stanley Baldwin (cousin)
- Georgiana Burne-Jones (aunt)
- Edward Burne-Jones (uncle)
- Philip Burne-Jones (cousin)
- Edward Poynter (uncle)
- Alfred Baldwin (uncle)