Kipling came to mind (or to ear) for me, too. I've always supposed that Kipling's forms in his more jingoistic poems echoed drinking ballads and barracks songs -- in fact, "Barrack-Room Ballads" was the title of his 1892 book. As a kid I used to recite "Gunga Din" in unison with my father, at the top of my lungs, and it's easy to imagine a crowd of drunken soldiers giving it the same treatment: "And it was Din! Din! Din! You squidgy faced old idol Gunga Din!"
RPW
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