Rudyard Kipling: Poems Summary and Analysis of "Recessional"

Summary
The speaker calls out to God, the Lord of their battle-line under whose hand they hold power over the land.
He calls for the "Lord God of Hosts" to be with them "lest they forget".

As the din and shouting fade away and the captains and kings leave, there is only God's ancient sacrifice left.
The refrain of "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, / Lest we forget –lest we forget!" is repeated.

Their navies return home, the fire of war goes out, and all the pomp and luster of yore is "one with Nineveh
and Tyre". The speaker calls for God, the "Judge of Nations", to spare them "lest they forget".

If the men are drunk with power and start speaking rashly and wildly without heeding God, such as the
Gentiles or other base breeds do, then again, the speaker implores, "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, / Lest
we forget –lest we forget!"

The "heathen heart" will trust in the instruments of war, but it is only like dust falling upon dust. The
speaker calls for the Lord to show mercy upon his people, despite their silly boasting and insipid words.

Analysis
"Recessional" was written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, which celebrated the 60th
anniversary of her reign. The poem is well-known for the biblical phrase "Lest we forget" (see Deuteronomy
6:12) repeated throughout the poem which quickly became a mainstay of memorials and headstones. "The
White Man's Burden" was initially composed for this event, but Kipling wrote and offered "Recessional"
instead; the former poem was modified and sent to Theodore Roosevelt two years later in regards to
America's involvement in the Philippines.

It is one of Kipling's more enigmatic and cerebral poems. Kipling had written of the Jubilee that he had "a
certain optimism that scared me" about Britain's global prospects. There had recently been problems in
South Africa that would expand into even greater difficulties; a raid into Afrikan territories to inspire British
workers to revolt against the Boers in South Africa had failed, leaving the leader imprisoned and many
British dead. Kipling wrote of this poem in his autobiography, saying it was in the nature of a nuzzur-
wazu, or an averter of the evil eye.
The poem is five stanzas of six lines each, composed of rhyming couplets. The last couplet repeats at the end
of each stanza, reinforcing the message that Kipling intended to convey. The title suggests the departure of
the clergy and the choir at the end of a service through the nave of a church. While scholars concur that
Kipling was not a particularly religious man, he was very aware of the sacred nature of religious texts and
processions in English history. The title and its allusion add solemnity and gravitas to the message Kipling
wishes to convey: the English should be careful of imperialistic hubris, be wary of jingoism, and understand
that their earthly conquests pale in comparison with the mighty works of God.

Kipling warns of a time when all of the "pomp of yesterday" fades away. The navies are gone, the "reeking
tube and iron shard" have turned to "valiant dust that builds upon dust". These sublunary marvels and
achievements are meaningless in the face of time and God. Men should be wary of their pride and their
boasting, and should strive instead for "[a] humble and contrite heart". He cites fallen empires of Nineveh
and Tyre as a warning that decline is inevitable.

He writes a curious line about the Gentiles: "If, drunk with sight of power, we loose / Wild tongues that have
not Thee in awe, / Such boastings as the Gentiles use, / Or lesser breeds without the Law –". The Gentiles
here are conceived as the non-Jews – i.e., those without the special civilization and status of the biblical
Jews. The Gentiles in the poem are those of Kipling's own world – perhaps the Russians or the Germans –
 who he felt were uncivilized in their values. Most scholars do not think he was referring to the subject
peoples of Britain's imperial game.

When considered in light of Kipling's other works on the British Empire and imperialism, particularly "The
White Man's Burden", the uniqueness of this poem is evident. The scholar William Flesch writes, "Kipling's
jingoism is complex and takes the form of establishing and praising a culture of grateful memory of sacrifice
(the obligation to such memory is at the heart of all his greatest poems)... The world as Kipling was troubled
by it was a world of very fragile standing, that military might would do nothing to secure, and it is this sense
of the world that makes this poem a powerful and necessary countercurrent to the jingoism of the jubilee that
both attracted and troubled Kipling."

Recessional
BY RUDYARD KIP LIN G

1897
God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

Rudyard Kipling was an English author famous for

an array of works like 'Just So Stories' and 'The
Jungle Book.' He received the 1907 Nobel Prize in
Literature.
Synopsis
Rudyard Kipling was born on December 30, 1865, in Bombay, India.
He was educated in England but returned to India in 1882. A decade
later, Kipling married Caroline Balestier and settled in Brattleboro,
Vermont, where he wrote The Jungle Book (1894), among a host of
other works that made him hugely successful. Kipling was the
recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in 1936.

Background and Early Years

Considered one of the great English writers, Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on
December 30, 1865, in Bombay (now called Mumbai), India. At the time of his birth, his
parents, John and Alice, were recent arrivals in India as part of the British Empire. The
family lived well, and Kipling was especially close to his mother. His father, an artist,
was the head of the Department of Architectural Sculpture at the Jeejeebhoy School of
Art in Bombay.

For Kipling, India was a wondrous place. Along with his younger sister, Alice, he
reveled in exploring the local markets with his nanny. He learned the language and, in
this bustling city of Anglos, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews, connected with the
country and its culture.

However, at the age of 6, Kipling's life was torn apart when his mother, wanting her son
to receive a formal British education, sent him to Southsea, England, where he
attended school and lived with a foster family named the Holloways.

These were hard years for Kipling. Mrs. Holloway was a brutal woman who quickly
grew to despise her foster son. She beat and bullied the youngster, who also struggled
to fit in at school. His only break from the Holloways came in December, when Kipling,
who told nobody of his problems at school or with his foster parents, traveled to London
to stay with relatives for the month.

Kipling's solace came in books and stories. With few friends, he devoted himself to
reading. He particularly adored the work of Daniel Defoe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Wilkie Collins. When Mrs. Holloway took away his books, Kipling snuck in literature
time, pretending to play in his room by moving furniture along the floor while he read.