Rudyard Kipling's Boots

 

 

Last weekend, I watched Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later. In addition to having a good time, it introduced me to a poem by Rudyard Kipling. The poem is Boots, and it appeared in a collection of poems in 1903. The poem features in the film, but was also a key part of their marketing in the United Kingdom, the trailers used a recording of the whole poem to great effect.

 If you live in an area that had a different marketing strategy like Japan which still used the recording but in a reduced form, here's the full recording.

Sing along!

We're foot—slog—slog—slog—sloggin' over Africa
Foot—foot—foot—foot—sloggin' over Africa --
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Seven—six—eleven—five—nine-an'-twenty mile to-day
Four—eleven—seventeen—thirty-two the day before --
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
Don't—don't—don't—don't—look at what's in front of you.
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again);
Men—men—men—men—men go mad with watchin' em,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
Count—count—count—count—the bullets in the bandoliers.
If—your—eyes—drop—they will get atop o' you!
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up and down again) --
There's no discharge in the war!
We—can—stick—out—'unger, thirst, an' weariness,
But—not—not—not—not the chronic sight of 'em,
Boot—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
'Taint—so—bad—by—day because o' company,
But night—brings—long—strings—o' forty thousand million
Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again.
There's no discharge in the war!
I—'ave—marched—six—weeks in 'Ell an' certify
It—is—not—fire—devils, dark, or anything,
But boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again,
An' there's no discharge in the war!
Try—try—try—try—to think o' something different
Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin' lunatic!
(Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin' up an' down again!)
There's no discharge in the war!
 

It has a strong effect on me, and the reader does a phenomenal job. The recorder was American actor Taylor Holmes (1899-1959) and the recording was made in 1915, this means that both the poem and the recording are in the Public Domain in most territories.  The point of the poem is to make the general public aware of the dangers of monotony and ceaseless repetitive action and what that does to a person trapped in that cycle. Its a war poem in which no one dies, no one gets shot and no one stands gallantly. 

I'm lucky enough not to have been in a war so far, but I was in the Cadets and I have had a taste of this monotonous action for its own sake. I've also worked in a factory and experienced something very similar to the poor soldier in the poem, hours dedicated to repeating the same action over and over and over again, looking up the line and seeing the product keep coming and never ends, it absolutely does mess with your head and I have seen some people crash emotionally because of it.  

 So, there we are a horror story involving the public domain that's creative and good.