tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post8042210614886758938..comments2024-01-02T15:12:14.699+00:00Comments on War Poetry: Rudyard Kipling: 'The Changelings'Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-12885622625799315682013-05-09T12:14:15.576+01:002013-05-09T12:14:15.576+01:00Please read his Afghanistan poems. As true today a...Please read his Afghanistan poems. As true today as when they were written.lakerudyardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17782496899898494265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-52000527157201844322011-04-03T11:48:50.982+01:002011-04-03T11:48:50.982+01:00I love the line 'We saw more than the nights c...I love the line 'We saw more than the nights could hide'. <br /><br />Haven't read any Kipling before, but I will certainly have to!Jonhttp://www.word-in-the-eye.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-80890124573172759912011-03-04T17:42:25.986+00:002011-03-04T17:42:25.986+00:00I think it was The Phantom Rickshaw of which he sa...I think it was The Phantom Rickshaw of which he said it was the first story that pleased him, because it was the first where he felt he'd really got inside another man's skin.Sheenagh Pughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735299981866333316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-9648486703561317702011-03-04T09:08:07.038+00:002011-03-04T09:08:07.038+00:00Sheenagh, I agree. 'They' is perfect, and ...Sheenagh, I agree. 'They' is perfect, and perfectly heartbreaking. There are a dozen Kipling masterpieces for every mood. I love 'Wireless', 'The Phantom Rickshaw', 'Mary Postgate', 'Kaa's Hunting', 'Red Dog', 'The Gardener', 'Dayspring Mishandled'... <br /><br />As for Kipling and America, Ed, that's a big topic. His best friend was American, he married an American, he received death threats from an American --- and that was all one family! I'm sorry if his stories aren't read in the States. They're not especially well read over here.Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-20366512057979350362011-03-04T08:26:51.824+00:002011-03-04T08:26:51.824+00:00Ed, I think many people have only read the poems. ...Ed, I think many people have only read the poems. When I say online that I think Kipling the master of the short story (outside Chekhov) people sometimes think he only wrote children's stories. Actually I'd dispute that Just So, the Jungle Books and the two Pucks are purely for children anyhow, but many are not aware of books like Debits £ Credits, The Light that Failed, Plain Tales etc etc<br />Tim, my fave used to be "They", which still reduces me to a dishrag, but my daughter convinced me that The Wish House has more craft. I'm also mighty fond of Marklake Witches, surely the best use of an unaware narrator outside Chekhov's monk in "The Night before Easter" - yes, we could go on for ever!Sheenagh Pughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735299981866333316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-86573201228081405802011-03-04T03:44:50.403+00:002011-03-04T03:44:50.403+00:00You write, 'Could it be that the trauma of nav...You write, 'Could it be that the trauma of naval warfare is outstripped by the greater trauma of trying to resume the trite rigmarole of civilian existence?' <br />From watching the battalion return home (now 9 months) I observe that many suffer multiple losses - comrades, the cohesiveness and sense of higher purpose of the unit, the loss of their former selves, the loss of their ideal selves, momentum, focus, drive, and energy, sheer energy. War is exhaustion and yet, at war, one is most keenly alive. More than one infantryman that I know has said to me, "It's not Afghanistan that's killing me, it's being home."smsteelehttp://www.warpoet.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-80300581492691196122011-03-04T00:35:22.500+00:002011-03-04T00:35:22.500+00:00"The Changelings" is a splendid ballad, ..."The Changelings" is a splendid ballad, mock or manque, manipulative and magisterial alike: eliding time, presenting portions of images and events, hinting at more than it says--and still asking the hard question: What's worse, to be at war, or to be at peace after having been at war? (And the use of dashes is as eccentric as Emily Dickinson's.)<br /><br />But, please, sir, may I ask a different question? Viz: "And how do you like Kipling?" "... Don't know; never kippled." Am I just stubbornly obtuse in thinking your great man the quintessential poet figure for many in the Isles and Uncommonwealth, but only appreciated, and certainly not revered, in other parts--as, say, US? <br /><br />William Carlos Williams and maybe even Walt Whitman might be the corresponding American poets--masters of oblique minimalism and barbaric yawp, respectively--who don't "travel" well. Over there, Kipling was both the Empire and the retreat from. Over here, he seemed just jingley and jingoist; and US products of lower education think no more than Jungle Book and "Gunga Din" and something about Mandelay when we hear the man's name.<br /><br />So I am still astonished when I encounter something of his as crafty (both senses) as "The Changelings"; controlled dot-dash storytelling, the horrors of war, manifest (Manifest?) psychological pain, and a touch of English music hall humor. And may I mention the perfect title?Ed Leimbacherhttp://www.mrebks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-1633125060276945152011-03-03T17:48:24.904+00:002011-03-03T17:48:24.904+00:00Yes, I think that Henley is there. Sandra Kerr det...Yes, I think that Henley is there. Sandra Kerr detects an allusion to Psalm 108 in 'Heavens-high', but I'm less sure about that. <br /><br />I <i>almost</i> agree about 'The Wish House', which I love, but I would give the accolade to 'The Eye of Allah'. Of course, when we Kiplingites start recommending our favourite stories, we go on long into the night...Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-65180928820772598292011-03-03T16:02:18.888+00:002011-03-03T16:02:18.888+00:00I love The Wish House. I don't think there'...I love The Wish House. I don't think there's a better short story outside Chekhov.<br /><br />Re this poem, do we assume the syntax of the first verse is indeed based on Henley's<br /><br />Or ever the knightly years were gone<br /> With the old world to the grave,<br />I was the King of Babylon<br /> And you were a Christian Slave.<br /><br />I don't know when the Henley was written but they were friends, I think - was it Henley who took off his wooden leg and waved it in the air on hearing "Danny Deever"?Sheenagh Pughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735299981866333316noreply@blogger.com