Author: Rudyard Kipling
BOMBAY Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen Fronting thy richest sea with richer hands, A thousand mills roar through me where I glean All races from all lands. CALCUTTA Me the Sea-captain loved, the River built, Wealth sought and Kings adventured life to hold. Hail, England! I am Asia, Power on silt, Death in my hands, but Gold! MADRAS Clive kissed me on the mouth and eyes and brow, Wonderful kisses, so that I became Crowned above Queens, a withered beldame now, Brooding on ancient fame. RANGOON Hail, Mother! Do they call me rich in trade? Little care I, but hear the shorn priest drone, And watch my silk-clad lovers, man by maid, Laugh 'neath my Shwe Dagon. SINGAPORE Hail, Mother! East and West must seek my aid Ere the spent gear may dare the ports afar. The second doorway of the wide world's trade Is mine to loose or bar. HONG-KONG Hail, Mother! Hold me fast; my Praya sleeps Under innumerable keels to-day. Yet guard (and landward), or to-morrow sweeps Thy war-ships down the bay! HALIFAX Into the mist my guardian prows put forth, Behind the mist my virgin ramparts lie, The Warden of the Honour of the North, Sleepless and veiled am I! QUEBEC AND MONTREAL Peace is our portion. Yet a whisper rose, Foolish and causeless, half in jest, half hate. Now wake we and remember mighty blows, And, fearing no man, wait! VICTORIA From East to West the circling word has passed, Till West is East beside our land-locked blue; From East to West the tested chain holds fast, The well-forged link rings true! CAPE TOWN Hail! Snatched and bartered oft from hand to hand, I dream my dream, by rock and heath and pine, Of Empire to the northward. Ay, one land From Lion's Head to Line! MELBOURNE Greeting! Nor fear nor favour won us place, Got between greed of gold and dread of drouth, Loud-voiced and reckless as the wild tide-race That whips our harbour-mouth! SYDNEY Greeting! My birth-stain have I turned to good; Forcing strong wills perverse to steadfastness: The first flush of the tropics in my blood, And at my feet Success! BRISBANE The northern stirp beneath the southern skies, I build a Nation for an Empire's need, Suffer a little, and my land shall rise, Queen over lands indeed! HOBART Man's love first found me; man's hate made me Hell; For my babes' sake I cleansed those infamies. Earnest for leave to live and labour well, God flung me peace and ease. AUCKLAND Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart, On us, on us the unswerving season smiles, Who wonder 'mid our fern why men depart To seek the Happy Isles!
Type of Poem: Lyric Poem
Date Written:
Date Published:
Language: English
Keywords: Public Domain
Source: Public Domain Collection
Publisher:
Rights/Permissions: Public Domain
Comments/Notes: Rudyard Kipling’s "The Song of the Cities" is a Lyric Cycle with strong elements of Imperial Pageantry and Personified Geography. In this sweeping and ambitious poem, Kipling gives voice to various cities across the British Empire, each speaking with its own distinct personality, history, and emotional tone. The central theme is the vibrant, diverse, and often conflicted spirit of the Empire—its pride, sacrifice, struggle, ambition, and interconnection—articulated through the individual experiences of its global outposts. Through personification, each city becomes a character, a storyteller, presenting itself with a mixture of pride, nostalgia, defiance, and hope.
The tone of the poem shifts with each city, reflecting the unique history and temperament of the place. Bombay stands regal and powerful; Calcutta combines wealth with latent danger; Madras mourns its faded glory; Singapore boasts of its pivotal role in trade; and Hong Kong warns of its strategic vulnerability. In the Canadian entries—Halifax, Quebec, and Montreal—there is a theme of guarded vigilance and latent strength. The Australian and New Zealand cities emphasize youthful energy, resilience, and national potential, while Cape Town dreams of imperial unity stretching northward. Structurally, the poem moves geographically across the Empire, from India through Southeast Asia, Canada, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, creating a vast and unified imperial map stitched together by shared allegiance and destiny.
Kipling’s use of first-person voice for each city allows deep emotional immediacy: each speaks not just for its physical self but for its people, their struggles, achievements, and ambitions. His imagery is rich and localized—references to the Shwe Dagon pagoda in Rangoon, the roaring harbour-mouth at Melbourne, the Lion’s Head at Cape Town, and the "Happy Isles" of Auckland root each voice firmly in place while emphasizing common threads of human endeavor and endurance. Historically, this poem is a crystallization of Kipling’s vision of the British Empire as a living organism—a network of proud, diverse cities bound together by blood, labor, loyalty, and shared destiny.
Ultimately, "The Song of the Cities" is a celebration—and a complex elegy—of imperial unity. It captures both the grandeur and fragility of the vast colonial enterprise at its height, recognizing that while each city speaks with pride, they are all conscious of struggle, sacrifice, and the weight of the history they carry. Kipling’s poem stands as a rare lyrical cartography of a world once imagined as coherently British, resonant both with triumph and with the deep currents of change already on the horizon.
Lyric poetry is a powerful and intimate form of expression, characterized by its focus on the personal emotions and thoughts of the poet. Often musical in nature, lyric poems resonate with readers through their vivid language and rhythmic flow, capturing moments of intense feeling.
Here are some key characteristics that define lyric poetry:
From ancient odes to contemporary free verse, lyric poetry remains a beloved and enduring form, celebrated for its ability to articulate the nuances of human emotion in a way that resonates deeply with readers.