"Dane-geld" is a poem by British writer

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

(1865-1936). It relates to the unwisdom of paying " Danegeld", or what is nowadays called

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

and

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. The most famous lines are "once you have paid him the Danegeld/ You never get rid of the Dane."

Excerpt

The poem ends thus:

Background

The poem is subtitled "(AD 980-1016)". In 978, Æthelred the Unready was crowned king of England. In 980, small companies of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

adventurers carried out a series of coastline raids against England. The raids continued; and in 991, Æthelred paid the Danes in silver to stop raiding and to go away. The Danes thought this an excellent ideaand returned year after year to demand more. In Kipling's words: "if once you have paid him the Dane-geld, you never get rid of the Dane". The practice only ceased in 1016, when the Scandinavian ruler

Canute the Great Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway ...

invaded England, won its crown, and established control over the country.

Publication history

The poem was first published in 1911, in ''A School History of England'' by

C. R. L. Fletcher Charles Robert Leslie Fletcher (22 October 1857 – 30 April 1934) was an English historian. He was the son of Alexander Pearson Fletcher and Caroline Anna (daughter of the painter Charles Robert Leslie). From 1868 to 1876 he was King's Scholar at ...

and Rudyard Kipling. It was included in all subsequent editions. Fletcher's description of the historical events has been said to be "lurid" and to contain "over-heavy sarcasm" when drawing parallels with the time of writing.

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

included the poem in his 1941 collection '' A Choice of Kipling's Verse''. The poem has been included in collected editions of Kipling's works; and presumably also in poetry anthologies, because it has been quoted by 21st-century historical and political writers. Original publication

Ole Martin Moen Ole Martin Moen (; born 28 April 1985) is a Norwegian philosopher who works primarily with applied ethics and value theory. He is Professor of Ethics at Oslo Metropolitan University and Researcher in Philosophy and Principal Investigator for the ...

, ''

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

'', 14 July 2011.

Legacy

Kipling did not invent the expression "paying someone Dane-geld"; but it has become attached to him, even in books of quotations. In the 1930s, it was invoked against the British government's policy of appeasing Nazi Germany. In 1984, Margaret Thatcher quoted Kipling (Stanza 6) in her Conservative Party speech in Brighton. In 2008, American historian

Richard Abels Richard Abels FRHistS (born 1951) is professor emeritus of history at the United States Naval Academy. Abels is a specialist in the military and political institutions of Anglo-Saxon England. He was Elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (e ...

quoted from the poem as an introduction to his own study of Danegeld. In 2011, Norwegian philosopher

quoted from the poem in an argument against paying ransoms to

Somali pirate Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding areas and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. I ...

s for the release of hostages. Leslie Fish has set "Dane-geld" to music and performed it, along with other settings of Kipling, on her 1985 album ''The Undertaker's Horse.''

References

{{Rudyard Kipling, state=collapsed 1911 poems Poetry by Rudyard Kipling