tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post4790881615037816004..comments2024-02-09T06:24:16.626+00:00Comments on upside down in cloud: a bit of KiplingDru Marlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-10753425923001499722010-06-16T08:36:24.760+01:002010-06-16T08:36:24.760+01:00I was reading tonight of Kipling getting his son a...I was reading tonight of Kipling getting his son a commission after he was refused for his eyesight; his grief and becoming involved with the graves commission that laid out and maintained the burial grounds for those who didn't make it home. <br /><br />"If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied."<br /><br />So many lives, still affected by a war from almost 100 years ago.<br /><br />Would that we had learned from any of it!<br /><br />alanalanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06013341654649926300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-31966824740040943582010-06-14T15:44:49.465+01:002010-06-14T15:44:49.465+01:00It was 'The Young British Soldier', Anji, ...It was 'The Young British Soldier', Anji, a description of the various ways that a recruit could come to a sticky end. Yes, I think he was very powerfully affected by the deaths of the war, not least that of his son whom he had encouraged to join up...<br /><br />Indeed, Graham...<br /><br />I think there were worse and less clear-sighted views of Empire than Kipling's, Jo; I don't think he was at all jingoistic...Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-21321780975156126212010-06-13T14:09:22.650+01:002010-06-13T14:09:22.650+01:00A fascinating man. 'If' remains one of the...A fascinating man. 'If' remains one of the big Top Five poems ever written I think. Though a bit of cliche now, it contains an insight that's still immensely affecting - particularly as you go through the ups and downs of life.<br /><br />And yet his journey from jingoistic Empire propagandist to broken father, after the death of his son in the First World War, is one of the most powerful parts of his story of all?Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17356965133404249244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-21617232149848663312010-06-12T21:27:24.271+01:002010-06-12T21:27:24.271+01:00A man of his time. And none the worse for all that...A man of his time. And none the worse for all that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-90554439822422415682010-06-12T13:39:05.651+01:002010-06-12T13:39:05.651+01:00That sounds really interesting, pity I'm so fa...That sounds really interesting, pity I'm so far away. <br /><br />I like Kipling most of the time, but I read a quote somewhere the other day about "taking your gun and blowing your brains out like a man", not the exact words. No doubt you or one of your learned readers will know which poem it comes from.<br /><br />He took it upo, himself to visit the war graves in France after WWI and report home.Anjihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02562210585479814093noreply@blogger.com