Quotes from book
Barrack-Room Ballads

Barrack-Room Ballads
Rudyard Kipling

The Barrack-Room Ballads are a series of songs and poems by Rudyard Kipling, dealing with the late-Victorian British Army and mostly written in a vernacular dialect. The series contains some of Kipling's most well-known work, including the poems "Gunga Din", "Tommy", "Mandalay", and "Danny Deever", helping consolidate his early fame as a poet.

Rudyard Kipling photo

“I've taken my fun where I've found it;
I've rogued an' I've ranged in my time.”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

The Ladies, Stanza I.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)

Rudyard Kipling photo

“They've taken of his buttons off an' cut his stripes away,
An' they're hangin' Danny Deever in the mornin.”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

Danny Deever, Stanza 1.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)

Rudyard Kipling photo

““What are the bugles blowin' for?” said Files-on-Parade.
“To turn you out, to turn you out”, the Colour-Sergeant said.”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

Danny Deever, Stanza 1.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)

Rudyard Kipling photo

“When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier of the Queen!”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

Young British Soldier, Stanza 13.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)

Rudyard Kipling photo

“And oft-times cometh our wise Lord God, master of every trade,
And tells them tales of His daily toil, of Edens newly made;
And they rise to their feet as He passes by, gentlemen unafraid.”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

Dedication, Stanza 5.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)

Rudyard Kipling photo

“You may talk o' gin and beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But when it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water,
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.”

Rudyard Kipling book Barrack-Room Ballads

Gunga Din, Stanza 1.
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892, 1896)