Borrowed from Poems on the Underground (which was such a great idea until I stopped travelling on it more than a year ago):
A Dead Statesman
I could not dig: I dared not to rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall server me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?
Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
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And yes, I know there are issues with Kipling.
Cast the first stone if you are fault free.
Much can be said about Kipling, both for and against. He was much affected by the death of his son in the war.
That poem comes I think from his Epitaphs of the War. Just after “If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57409/epitaphs-of-the-war
Kipling may not have been exceptionally racist or committed to Empire for his time, but he was nonetheless exceptionally racist and that IS important, as he continues to be lauded for his cultural contributions and criticism attracts the attention of the anti-woke brigade. Might be better to have given him a miss.
I made the point
I am aware of the criticisms
I do not see that undermines the poem
Apropos, George Orwell wrote in 1942, just six years after Kipling’s death, that: “During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there … Kipling is a jingo imperialist, he is morally insensitive and aesthetically disgusting … Although he had no direct connexion with any political party, Kipling was a Conservative, a thing that does not exist nowadays. Those who now call themselves Conservatives are either Liberals, Fascists or the accomplices of Fascists.”
https://orwell.ru/library/reviews/kipling/english/e_rkip
Plus ça change.
Looking at the dates, somethings never change it seems.
Maybe Boris has read this too and has not intention of facing anyone. His rich backers will see to that I wager.
While Kipling has his issues, as indeed do most historical figures, surely we should be playing the ball not the person?
Kiplings sentiments are clear even if we might not be enthused by his wider views.
Interesting quote from the Essay on Kipling by George Orwell
All left-wing parties in the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something which they do not really wish to destroy.
My favourite George Orwell quote is this one:
“So much Left wing thought is kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know the fire is hot”.
Those in Labour talking about beating the Right at populism please note.
Surely in these times of dodgy government contracts Kipling’s poem Gehazi must be mentioned. The insider traders buying Marconi shares in 1912 were Lloyd George, Alexander Murray (the Chief Whip) And Rufus Isaacs (the Attorney General). It was Isaac’s appointment as Lord Chief Justice that inspired Kipling’s furious poem about corruption.
It wasn’t jus JRK amongst the geniuses of literature who came to understand in their final days that the propaganda department they were recruited into, to educate the Empire – in true belief of bringing enlightenment to the masses of the world – was all built on a greater lie. That beyond their beloved Empress and Parliament- lay the real power. The Money.
HG Wells and even Eric Blair recanted in their final unpublished works, I believe.
All great writers and dramatists who made the language the world speaks and have left iconic tales that will entertain and succour many into the distant future – long after their dubious origins are forgotten.