'The Ballad of East and West' is a poem by Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

. It was first published in 1889, and has been much collected and anthologised since. Its first line is often quoted, sometimes as an example of Kipling's attitudes to race and to the Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

; but those who quote it thus often completely miss the third and fourth lines. It is worth quoting the refrain which opens, and closes, the poem in full:

Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

This may be read as saying that 'it is indisputable that geographic points of the compass will never meet in this life, but that when two strong men [or equals] meet, the accidents of birth, whether of nationality, race, or family, do not matter at all - the Asian and the European are equals'.

Critical analysis

The poem, which demonstrates Kipling's mastery of verse, is written in the style of a border ballad

Border ballad

The English/Scottish border has a long and bloody history of conquest and reconquest, raid and counter-raid . It also has a stellar tradition of balladry, such that a whole group of songs exists that are often called "border ballads", because they were collected in that region.Border ballads, like...

. It is printed as rhyming heptameter

Heptameter

Heptameter is one or more lines of verse containing seven metrical feet .An example from Lord Byron's Youth and Age:...

s, two of which are equivalent to a ballad stanza

Ballad Stanza

In poetry, a Ballad stanza is the four-line stanza, known as a quatrain, most often found in the folk ballad. This form consists of alternating four- and three-stress lines. Usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme . Assonance in place of rhyme is common...

; some texts print these in quatrain

Quatrain

A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...

s (groups of four lines). The vocabulary, stock phrases and rhythms are reminiscent of the old ballads, and the culture described is not unlike that of the Border Reivers

Border Reivers

Border Reivers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality...

: the first line of the actual story, for example, is "Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side" to mean that a raid is in progress to cause trouble in the Border (here the North West Frontier

North-West Frontier (military history)

The North-West Frontier was the most difficult area, from a military point of view, of the former British India in the Indian sub-continent. It remains the frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the...

, and originally the English/Scottish Border); the second line contains 'lifted', a Scots term for 'stolen', and the fourth 'calkin' (a technical term of horseshoes, here used to describe a trick of horse-mounted brigands, reversing the horseshoes to leave misleading tracks); and the second quatrain (line 9) has the stock phrase, also found in Sir Patrick Spens

Sir Patrick Spens

"Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads , and is of Scottish origin.-Historicity:The events of the ballad are similar to, and may chronicle, an actual event: the bringing home of the Scottish queen Margaret, Maid of Norway across the North Sea in 1290...

(s:Sir Patrick Spens), "Then up and spoke the [Colonel's son] that led a [troop of the Guides]", with a most traditional driving rhythm. Such echoes are to be heard throughout the poem: there is a couplet that is repeated with slight variations several times:

There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between

And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.

(ll 19-20; cf. 35-6 and 43-44)

Plot summary

The story of the ballad is simple, to do with theft, honour and strength - like many of the border ballads. Kamal, a chieftain of the lawless North west Frontier, raids into British territory, and in the course of his raid, steals 'the Colonel's mare'. The Colonel's son, an officer in the Guides

Corps of Guides (British India)

The Corps of Guides was a regiment of the British Indian Army which served in the North West Frontier and had a unique composition of being part infantry and part cavalry.-History:...

, follows him on "a raw rough dun" (poor quality horse) until he sees the white of the mare's eye. He fires, twice - and misses.

'Ye shoot like a soldier,' Kamal said. 'Show now if ye can ride!'

So the chase continues, until the dun founders, whereupon Kamal turns back, and, after knocking the pistol out of the Colonel's son's hand, reveals that they have all along been covered by his men, hiding behind the rocks and thorn. The Colonel's son speaks defiantly of the vengeance that will be exacted should he be killed:

'And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack,

'Give me my father's mare again, and I'll fight my own way back!'

This earns Kamal's respect, whereon the Briton tells Kamal to

'Take up the mare for my father's gift - by God, she has carried a man!'

The ballad ends with the mare, who has nuzzled the British chest, returning to the Colonel; Kamal accepting the son's pistol, and sending his only son to be a trooper in the Guides. This is enough for the British officer to order an end to all the blood-feuds within the native troops:

'Ha' done! ha' done!' said the Colonel's son. 'Put up the steel at your sides!

'Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—to-night 'tis a man of the Guides!'