Clue: Poet's refrain about English imperialist notion (5,4,6)
Answer: WHITE MAN’S BURDEN
Explanation: Poet's refrain about English imperialist notion (5,4,6)
Kipling again: last week's Rufus referenced *The Ballad of East and West*; here we have *The White Man's Burden: the United States and the Philippine Islands*. Each stanza starts starts with the exhortation "Take up the white man's burden", and goes on to point out how difficult the task will be (for the colonial powers, that is). Not surprisingly, like TWAIN of Monday last week, the quote is better remembered than the rest of the poem. As for the clue, it is a scarcely cryptic definition, with 'refrain' referring to the repeated line in the poem (and BURDEN being a synonym, giving a wordplay of a kind). Even though the full title of the poem addresses the US, the 'English imperialist notion' is fitting. *See Steve B @1 for the full wordplay – an envelope ('about') of E ('English') in WHITMAN'S BURDEN ('Poet's refrain').