The Great War…
In which, among so many others, Kipling’s son was killed:
“John was extremely keen to join up. Like pretty much everyone else he thought it would be a short war and wanted to play his part,” said Michael Smith, a vice-president of the Kipling Society. “He went at the beginning to try and enlist on his own, but was rejected. Later he tried again, this time accompanied by his father, but again he was rejected.”Later Kipling was to write:It was time to pull some strings. His father was at the height of his celebrity. The world’s youngest Nobel literary laureate, his was the authentic voice of empire, whose work beat the drum for the jingoistic spirit of the times.
If any question why we diedAlso see his Recessional:
Tell them, because our fathers lied…
Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
Well, that’s exactly why Papa Bush didn’t send his son to war. He must have read his Kipling.
Comment by km — August 29, 2006 @ 1:09 pm