Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Road to Mandalay

The life of the British soldier overseas in the 19th century was difficult at best, though they usually tried to make the best of it. Rudyard Kipling documented there lives in a number of his poems in the voice of the common soldier. When a unit was transfered the Army would only take four wives per hunded man company, leaving a sting of broken relationships halfway around the world over a 20 year deployment.


In the poem of The Road to Mandalay the title and chorus make a romantic hook, that is quite popular, a contrast of the pain and sorrow of the story. Usually all but the chorus, first, second, and last stanzas are ommited.  An enrtaining example on the left, but I think something different than Kipling intended.




Casper33’s interpretation is much truer the story and a work of art itself, I would say comparable to the poem. 


text


Check out Fred Proud's (Casper33) You Tube page or his blog Fredthread. He has reading of poems by many poets done with same artistry. Some samples,

Adelestrop Edward Thomas

Father William Lewis Caroll

The Darkling Thrush Thomas Hardy

Updated 8/29/11

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