"Submarines" is a poem written by

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), and set to music by the English composer

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

in 1917, as the third of a set of four war-related songs on nautical subjects for which he chose the title "

The Fringes of the Fleet ''The Fringes of the Fleet'' is a booklet written in 1915 by Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). The booklet contains essays and poems about nautical subjects in World War I. It is also the title of a song-cycle written in 1917 with music by the En ...

". Like the others in the cycle, is intended for four baritone voices. It was originally written with orchestral accompaniment, but it was later published to be sung with piano accompaniment. The composer does not make clear which sections of the song, if any, are to be sung solo or in chorus. The poem was titled by Kipling ''Tin Fish''.

Poem

The musical setting repeats the first stanza.

The Fringes of the Fleet

*Kipling's book ''Sea Warfare'' (1916) republished

(1915) and included a section ''Tales of "The Trade"'' about the Submarine Service. It included a poem titled "The Trade" which begins:

References

External links

Sea Warfare - The Fringes of the Fleet
Notes by Alastair Wilson {{Rudyard Kipling 1917 songs Poetry by Rudyard Kipling Songs by Edward Elgar