Major Edwards High School - Mesa Yearbook (West Boylston, MA)

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rJ g r T W ri O jV! A M MADH i ■ j V » - JIVA p v ' , .» his s on s on wa s born in „ enlisted in the ' K s re- end the from another corn in Vermont and England. John, the English army in the World War, ported later among the missing, family never laiew whs t became of him. It is said that Kipling never recovered from the effect of the loss of his son and that he withdrew from the outside ■ or Id, In 1899, three years after returning to England, the Kip lings returned to Am rica, probably with the intention of settling again in Vermont, but both he one of his daughters became sick in New York, and the girl died. After that, the family returned to England. The home that., he built in Vermont still stands, a house and garden so different from the characteristics of New England that one would know, without being told, that a land had built it. Although the house was and person j. wu, , . large, he and his wife did not entertain much; but even, -men they were alone, he always dressed for dinner in i ' S- — asn style . In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize for literature, and was awarded many other honors, but the poet laur ea. teship of .a .1- nd was denied him, in 1913. It Is generally believed tno.t , Victoria was angered by the expression. Widow ; t Windsor, vim on occurs in one of his noems , and had her revenge by not anmc.nt ' ng him Poet Laureate. He had a different explanation for not brAng appointed, but a still better reason may be that in such an official position it is safer for the United Kingdom to have someone who confines himself ao ! poetic tnomes. Two of his poems that became especially famous are 1 The White Man’s Burden and ' The Recessional. ' ' The latter was written for the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Kipling’s impulse to creative writing came through journalism. Some of the stories that made him famous he first hoard from his father others were childhood recollections of tales tola by ms native nurse, still others he picked up from native workmen and sailors in every part of the world, or derived from his experi- ence as a field correspondent with the British army in India. The realism, vitality, and sense of abounding life the t are found in Kipling’s prose tales are also qualities of his poetry.

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Besides the poems of soldier and Indian life there pstri otic pieces, filled with confidence in Britain’s destiny. Ko dis- liked what he called little .England ism and the sheltered life and he made abstract themes, lake imperialism, living realities, just as he made an electric cable or a steam engine the subject of a song. The finer shades of character and style he lacked, and except in rare cases, he did not deal v ' ith spiritual matters One of these rare exceptions is The Recessional. Gertrude Jewett THE RECESSIONAL God of our fathers, known of old, Lord of our far-flung battle line, Beneath whose awful Hand we hold Dominion ever palm and pine; Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forgot! Lest we forgot! The tumult and the shouting dies, The Captains and the Kings depart, Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite hea t. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget! Lest we forget! Par call’d, our navies melt away. On dune and headland sinks the firo, 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 If drunk with sight of pow’r we loose Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe. Such boasting as the Gentiles use, Or lesser breeds without the law, Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget! Lest we forget’ For heathen heart that puts her trust, In reeking tube and iron shard All valiant dust that builds on dust, And guarding calls not Thee to guard. For frantic boast and foolish word, Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord! Rudyard Kipling