A Song of the English

About this book

Kipling imagines English voices carried across oceans, from crowded ports to distant imperial outposts. In his verse, ships and sailors speak of an empire connected by trade, danger and a sense of national destiny.

W. Heath Robinson's illustrations give the poem an elaborate visual setting, full of ships, architecture and dramatic maritime spaces. The book preserves a particular Edwardian vision of Britain's place in the world, including the assumptions of empire that shaped it. Its pictures invite a slower examination of the confidence expressed in the words.