"Fate's Discourtesy" is a poem written by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), and set to music by the English composer Edward Elgar in 1917, as the second of a set of four war-related songs on nautical subjects for which he chose the title "The Fringes of the Fleet".

Like the others in the cycle, is intended for four baritone voices: a solo and chorus. It was originally written with orchestral accompaniment, but it was later published to be sung with piano accompaniment.

The poem was called by Kipling "A Song in Storm".

References

• Michael Kennedy, Portrait of Elgar (Oxford University Press, 1968) ISBN 0193154145

External links

• Sea Warfare - The Fringes of the Fleet Notes by Alastair Wilson