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The Ballad of East and West. Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
" The Ballad of East and West " is a poem by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologized since. The poem. Kamal, a tribal chieftain in the North-West Frontier of the British Raj, steals a British Colonel's prize mare.
May 13, 2011 · The Ballad Of East And West. Rudyard Kipling 1865 (Mumbai) – 1936 (London) Celebration. Family. Holiday. Life. Nature. Religion. War. Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
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- Iambic octameter
The Ballad Of East And West. Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!
- Publication History
- Some Critical Opinions
- Notes on The Text
This poem was first published in the Pioneer of 2 December 1889, The Week’s News of December 28, and Macmillan’s Magazine for December the same year. See the new (Feb 2010) Bibliography by David Alan Richards (p. 74), and ORGVol. 8, p. 5266. It was first called “Kamal”, and attributed to “Yussuf”, one of the pen-names used by Kipling in his young d...
Charles Carringtonwrites of the year 1889 (p. xix.): Carrington also notes (p. 104) that: ‘this ballad is a romantic version of a tale that was in print long before Kipling’s day.’ Of the opening, he writes (p, 136:) The reference is to Psalm 103,12: ‘Look how wide also the east is from the west: so far hath he set our sins from us. ‘See also Psalm...
[line 5]Kamal is out: He is raiding the border between Afghanistan and British India with an armed party, and perhaps inviting others to join him as in “The Head of the District”, Life’s Handicapp. 127. [line 8]calkins:horseshoes. Reversing the horse-shoes to confuse pursuers was traditionally an old ruse of cattle thieves on the English-Scottish b...
Jan 28, 2024 · The Ballad of East and West is a wonderful poem that sheds light on the hollowness of racism, and beauty of humanity. Exploring the themes of racism and morality, the poem shows social division is just an excuse for fanning violence and disparity.
One of Kipling’s most famous and complex poems, “The Ballad of East and West”, was published in three magazines in December 1889 and is usually collected in Barrack-Room Ballads, and Other Verses. It was first called “Kamal” after the Afghan warrior, but Kipling changed it to the more epic title it now possesses.
