“For All We Have and Are” is a poem by Rudyard Kipling that responds to the outbreak of the First World War, and more specifically to the German invasion of Belgium, in August 1914. He wrote the poem in the last week of that month, publishing it in
The Timeson 2nd September, to widespread acclaim – and widespread syndication in newspapers across the English-speaking world. Kipling subsequently reprinted it with minor revisions and with the date “1914” added as a subtitle in his volume of wartime and pre-war poems,
The Years Between(1919), and in later collections of his verse.
Among the many poems published in the London press and elsewhere in response to the war’s outbreak, Kipling’s is notable for its somberly resolute tone. Although at this time Kipling was giving
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Citation: Baldick, Chris. "For All We Have and Are". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 April 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35613, accessed 23 November 2024.]
