A Hyperlinked Ode to Isambard Kingdom Brunel

(Perhaps "doggerel" is a better description than "ode.")

Note: this poem is presented in whimsical tribute to the 200 year old (born 6 April 1806) Second Greatest Briton of All Time, not as scholarly biography. Indeed, if one revisionsit historian is correct, many of the details described here may be based on "misinformation and distortion."

Let me tell you of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. "Little Giant," he stood under five foot and four And smoked only finest Trincomalee cigars. He would write little notes about this or 'bout that That he'd stick in the brim of his high beaver hat Quite a sight then was I K Brunel   The ideas, however, of I K Brunel Were never mere trifling nor tiny nor small. No. Grand-standing, brilliant; ingenious and tall; Colossal, too radical; ahead of their time; Technologically 'splosive and made out of iron -- Bold words mark the genius of I K Brunel   World famous at twenty was I K Brunel For righting his father's own flawed stratagems To finish the tunnel built under the Thames. Once for ninety-six hours he worked without sleep And when a worker was drowning, right away did he leap; Pneumatic, heroic, frenetic Brunel   When a cave-in did injure young I K Brunel Time-off only meant some time on for new work. Four suspension bridge designs to span Avon Gorge Won a fierce competition with his plans and his grace For the Clifton Bridge in Bristol to be Lord of the Place, Outbested old Telford did I K Brunel   But the job was a challenge for I K Brunel Three hundred feet longer than any suspension bridge yet. First a bar crossed the span with a basket attached to it. Who made the first basket crossing? Brunel, but of course, When it stuck, he crawled out, climbed the rope, fixed the source. Rope-climbing, dare-devil Brunel   Not completed was that bridge, till the death of Brunel. But not riots, nor spent funds, nor design changes made Nor a small act of Parliament, nor some workers unpaid Could prevent the completion of that tribute grandiose And once it did open, it has never been closed. "First love," and his "darling" was that bridge to Brunel
Engineering meant Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There was never a challenge, bridge, pier or workshop, Station, hospital, sewer, carriage, viaduct, Wartime prefabrication, lock, iron drag boat That he couldn't improve or think up or promote. Both bright and dynamic was I K Brunel   Not only hard-working was I K Brunel. He courted his wife to a Mendelssohn tune And spent all of three days on a Wales honeymoon. Well, he did add a visit -- a railway op'ning to see Long-suffering, I bet his wife Mary to be. Work-pressured romantic, dear I K Brunel   As a children's magician, fun-loving Brunel Did swallow a coin that fell into his bronchus. When he stood on his head, it then dropped to his glottis. Facing death, he designed a coughing machine To invert him and shake him from trachea to spleen It worked (took six weeks), but the coin left Brunel   Only broad gauge for Isambard Kingdom Brunel Defied small-minded others, who called the man odd. For the Great Western Railroad, tracks were seven feet broad And when those trains roared, he was sought everywhere From Wales to Australia, and green County Clare E'en the queen took the train for I K Brunel   An absolute triumph for I K Brunel, Who surveyed a thousand and more miles of line. 'So sing'larly smooth, with no smell of brimstone, "God's Wonderful Railway" -- so straight and so level -- Brunel, some would say, swore a pact with the devil. Conquered space with time did I K Brunel   The Box Tunnel, near Chippenham, was a gift from Brunel. The longest, of course, but was I. K. a Druid? On his birthday the rising sun shines all the way through it A phenomenon, legend, and work of sheer beauty Took an artist's skilled eye far beyond engineer's duty Both vast and sublime was Brunel.
Even failure showed honor in I. K. Brunel. An atmospheric railway in South Devon is a case in point. Needed no locomotive, with its pipe, pistons, and joint. Proved troublesome, expensive, in constant need in repair. In a year 'twas abandoned; blame Brunel took to bear; Min'mal fee for his work took Brunel.   Then the battle of gauges was lost by Brunel. Four foot 8 inches plus two odd defined quarters, (Based on the width of an ancient warhorse's hindquarters) Could not be replaced by something far better That Stephenson won makes the world his sad debtor Bureaucracy, bah, and not for Brunel   Nothing little for Isambard Kingdom Brunel When it came to the challenges transoceanic Though second by hours to first cross the Atlantic The Great Western surpassed any liner forthright Could cross to New York within a fortnight But that wasn't enough for great I K Brunel   The next steamship designed by I K Brunel Was the mighty Great Britain (made Great Western look pale) Rigged with screw propeller and six-masted top-sail, The first iron clad ocean ship -- she went 'round the Horn With no paddle wheel; she was Australia-borne. Engineering, of course, by (yes) I K Brunel   The Greatest of Greats for I K Brunel, The Great Eastern, an iron-built, double-skinned wonder, Was five times as large as any then built or asunder -- Of the finest design, admirably built and efficient (Except for the engines which were power-deficient). Outsized Noah's Ark, did amazing Brunel
This greatest of steamships (not just by Brunel), Could cruise 'round the world and refuel only once. Took six years to build and three months just to launch The ship did exhaust him, and they called it a flop. But it laid down cables and carried the troops. Blame failure not on broken-hearted Brunel   These words have been said about I K Brunel: "Bold in conception with taste in design." "At the forefront of the available technology of the time." Though little in stature, g r e a t should be his fame But, you know, mostly I just like saying his name So once again: I s a m b a r d   K i n g d o m   B r u n e l

Second Greatest Briton

Brunel, who was born almost 200 years ago (born on 9 April 1806), finished second place finish in the BBC's 2002 contest for the Greatest Briton of All Time just behind Winston Churchill and well ahead of Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newtwon, John Lennon, and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Comments from Adrian Vaughan

Brunel biographer Adrian Vaughan, author of the 1993 Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Engineering Knight Errant, has contacted me to let me know that he believes that this ode perpetuates some misinformation about Brunel that was first generated by a popular biography of Brunel written by L. T. C. Rolt in 1965. Vaughn's claim is that Rolf, in his attempt to make Brunel into a super-hero, ignored some facts, distorted others, and presented a "deliberately falsified" biography. A defender of Rolt counter-claims that "deliberate falsification" is too strong a term, and that although he may have exaggerated and romanticized his subject, Rolt, as much as anyone can tell, tried to "get it right" to the best of his ability.

Mr. Vaughn has offered these comments in his wish to set the record straight. His words are found in red.

Verse One: "For righting his father's own flawed stratagems" That is the opposite of the truth. It was IKB who collapsed the tunnel by his impatience, and it was his father who completed it and so gained his knighthood.

Verse Four: "Who made the first basket crossing? Brunel, but of course," There is no proof that he did this. Of the five Bristol newspapers of the time four mention some other person doing it, and the fifth does report anyone doing it. None of them mention IKB doing it.

Verse Ten (Clarification): "...he was sought everywhere / From Wales to Australia, and green County Clare." The Broad gauge did not go to County Clare. The railways of Ireland, were built to the 5ft 3in gauge which was the Standard Gauge of Ireland. All the tracks of Ireland are to this gauge. Note, however: Brunel provided consultation and advise to railroad builders other than just those interested in wide gauge.

Verse Twelve: "On his birthday the rising sun shines all the way through it." The rising sun absolutely does not shine through Box tunnel on Brunel's birthday, but the disc of the sun does catch the hole on 6th April - and then again in early September.

Verse Fourteenth (Clarification): "Four foot 8 inches plus an odd defined quarter..." The odd quarter of an inch in the standard guage allowed the flanges of the wheels to run unimpeded by the rails, and Brunel's gauge was 7ft and a quarter of an inch for the same reason.

Verse Seventeen (Clarification): "The Greatest of Greats for I K Brunel / The Great Eastern..." Brunel did not design the SS.Great Eastern. John Scott-Russell did. The tragedy of taking three months to launch the ship was entirely Brunel's pig-headed fault. Note, however: The role of these two men on the project remains a great subject of debate, since they were never clearly defined, as shown by the conflicts that rose between them.

This poem and page created and maintained by John R. Henderson (jhenderson@ithaca.edu), Ithaca College
Corrections and clarifications by Adrian Vaughan based on correspondance from September 24-29, 2003.
Page first created sometime in 1995.
Links last thoroughly inspected and corrected on January 7, 2006
Last modified on January 10, 2007
Note: The pictures used on this Web page are used with the understanding that they are in the public domain.
URL: http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/i.html