The Washington times., 1903-11-07
KlPLlNG'S NEW VOLUME OF VERSE


garding the dcsirability of British su-
premacy as opposed TO Russian, the
spectacle of the most brilliant man of
letters in England lighting this night for
the glory of the empire Is rather I'M
pressive. There has been nothing Ike
it before in the history of English lhera-
ture
There is an explanation of this purpose
in the Dedication" one verse of which
runs as follows:
Ere rivers league against the land
In piracy of flood.
Ye know what waters slip and stand
Where seldom water stood.
Yet who will note,
Till fields afoat
And washen carcass and the returning
well
Trumpet what these poor t.eralds strove
to tell?"
Little Impression these verses may
make on the casual reader Yet twenty
years hence. If England's prestige is
gone and Russia, unquestioned mistress
of the Orient. comes into direct contact
with our own interests. will not Amer
leans, re-reading Kipiing's Truce OF the
Bear" own that there was reason for
his warning?
Have we not already proved the truth
of 1.-THE White Mans Burden?" Are not
our governors in the Philippines coming
to understand it's meaning. and DO we
not already hear the scarcely disguised
argument thar It would be less trouble
TO let the islands govern themselves?
/ Four years has made Ineligible the
stanza:
1 Take up the White Mans Burden
Ye dare not stoop to less
| Nor call too ioH1 on Freedom
To cloak your Weariness:
! BY all We cry OF whisper,
BY all ye have TO do
The silent. sullen peoples
/ Shall weigh your gods and you
Other poems with a certain hidden OF
explicit meaning are The Bell Buoy.
''The Dykes. The Palace Kitchen
er's School. Pharaoh and the Ser
! geant," The Old Irene "The Reform
I ers." There are at least ten which may
be called political poems. bearing or
some imperial problems. and they all hit
/ hard. 1t may be true that this bo',k Is
inferior to its predecessors, but con
slider. did Tennyson or Browning Otter
put more than a dozen good bits of WORK
in one volume2 Consider also. there was
some trash even in the .Barrack Room
Ballads" so the critics said.
] II Is hardly likely, however, that Mr.
/ KIping will ever again write as many
/ notable lyrics as have already com,
/ from his pen. The reason for this lie.
in a queer and unexplained law OF liter
! ary production 1t Is rare indeed fol
any Doet to select the lyrical form d
his lest thought after ne reaches lhe
| age CT forty In youth it is natural K
write songs: the fresh and clear impres
sions an6 intense vitality Of the young
man imDel him 10 this form Of express
sion. There are hundreds OF lyrics II
the literature Of the 1sorld. written by
young men who either never wrote any
thing else. or never took that particular
form for their inspirations in later years
Tt IS almost an established rule that the
j novelist blossoms out OF the poet; al
any rate the poet who first won fame
as a novelist and then took TO writing
poetry has hardly been heard Of There
fore il Is only fair to suppose that as
/ time goes on Mr.. Kipling's work vii
take other forms than that Of lyriS
poetry. He may turn to the drama, a.
did Tennyson, Browning, and Shake
speare. all lyric poets OF fame IN theil
youth. There are Indications in some
Of his sstories-and his early surroundings
favor the prediction-thct he Will some
day write a novel desIng with The DC
cult from quite a new point OF view
But It IS unlikely that he win eve
eclipse any OF his early achievements II
lyric verse. or that he viii write mucl
more Of II. save p@rhaDs. at some espe
: cial inspiration The problems whici
appeal 10 the imag1nations OF man o
forty are dramatic, philosophical ant
> intsr-raclal, rather than emotional, ant
the pure lyric Is a matter OF pure emo
] ton and perfect power OF expression
II IS also curious 10 note in the pres
s ent volume the same tendency to Ions
= lines. Alexandriue measures and infre-
I quent rhymes. which may be found II
. the later work OF other English poets
iTennyson took 70 blank eTse and irregu
b lar meters: Browning to dramasin blanl
i verse and lines, of enormous length
. THE Dykes" in this book. is in ths
5 lIong-lined rhythm of The Rhyme of th'
{ Three Sailors" and so are the majority
5 OF the longer poems. while the shorter
q meters are seldom found.
( Yet there are good examples OF tn
y pure poem here, though the politica
: verses are 50 new 10 literature as u
make far the stronger impression. Their
IS the little song which celebrates tn
Z return Of the trOpic-bOrn 10 India ant
which runs in this wise:
e When the darkened F1fues dip to tn
North.
i And frost and the fog divide the all