How To Read Danny Deever

These men were all very shaken up about this execution and the emotions given off are ones of trepidation not anger at the wrong done by the man about to be executed. With what Hubel says it is not likely that Kipling ever witnessed a military execution himself, he instead gathered stories by talking to soldiers (6). Kipling is able to paint a picture of what this would have been like from the conversations he has with soldiers (Hubel, 6). Files-on-Parade is fairly new to the military and has no idea what he is about to be a part of. With what Hubel says the Colour-Sergeant is trying to disconnect Danny Deever from the rest of the regiment (7). Files-on-Parade then says that his cot was near Danny Deever’s and that they drank together. This is when the Colour-Sergeant finally tells Files-on-Parade that Danny Deever shot a comrade in his sleep. Had Files-on-Parade not known Danny Deever the Colour-Sergeant may have tried to avoid telling him as much as he did so

Soldiers who read Danny Deever would probably feel the deeper meanings much more easily and without having to research the poem than those with no military background. Since it is easily understood Danny Deever has remained a popular poem. Kipling’s Danny Deever and his other works have inspired not only readers but, also other poets such as Robert W. Service according to Whatley (2). “In the pre-war verse of Service, the influence of Kipling is unmistakably and universally manifest” (Whatley,1). Kipling wrote Danny Deever as a ballad or story song and this can be seen in his other works such as Fuzzy-Wuzzy, Cell, Screw-Guns, and many others. “The ballad form is a prime favorite with Service; and in this, as in more minute features of his verse, the Kipling influence is evident” (Whatley,