Page:Genius, and other essays.djvu/287

KIPLING'S BALLADS OF "THE SEVEN SEAS" Kipling's national mode of thought found expression in the proud outburst, "What should they know of England who only England know!" He is now more than ever the celebrant of the empire, and of the deeds of men that extend it:

He is thus, in some degree, the true laureate of Greater Britain. Others may sing the praise of a home administration, but his song is scornful of form and rule that irk or fail to comprehend the English spirit in its courses round the globe. Of all Victorian poets Tennyson was the most indubitably an Englishman, from a focal and outlooking point of view; and among those that survive, Kipling expresses the imperial inspiration, from every far-off station which he knows so well, looking toward the central isles. It is impossible that America, boding the unwritten federation of English-speaking peoples, should not be on closer terms with Mr. Kipling than with other transatlantic singers, by virtue of whatever share we still possess in the greatness of our ancient motherland. [273]