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| Rudyard Kipling, c. 1865-1936 |
IF
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Death of Rudyard's Son
Kipling actively encouraged his young son to go to war. Kipling's son John died in the First World War, at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, at age 18. John had initially wanted to join the Royal Navy, but having had his application turned down after a failed medical examination due to poor eyesight, he opted to apply for military service as an Army officer. But again, his eyesight was an issue during the medical examination. In fact, he tried twice to enlist, but was rejected. His father had been lifelong friends with Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief of the British Army, and colonel of the Irish Guards, and at Rudyard's request, John was accepted into the Irish Guards.[65]
He was sent to Loos two days into the battle in a reinforcement contingent. He was last seen stumbling through the mud blindly, screaming in agony after an exploding shell had ripped his face apart. A body identified as his was not found until 1992, although that identification has been challenged.[69][70]
After his son's death, Kipling wrote, "If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied." It is speculated that these words may reveal his feelings of guilt at his role in getting John a commission in the Irish Guards.[71] Others such as English professor Tracy Bilsing contend that the line is referring to Kipling's disgust that British leaders failed to learn the lessons of the Boer War, and were not prepared for the struggle with Germany in 1914 with the "lie" of the "fathers" being that the British Army was prepared for any war before 1914 when it was not.[72]
John's death has been linked to Kipling's 1916 poem "My Boy Jack", notably in the play My Boy Jack and its subsequent television adaptation, along with the documentary Rudyard Kipling: A Remembrance Tale. However, the poem was originally published at the head of a story about the Battle of Jutland and appears to refer to a death at sea; the 'Jack' referred to is probably a generic 'Jack Tar'.[73] Kipling was said to help assuage his grief over the death of his son through reading the novels of Jane Austen aloud to his wife and daughter.[74]
for more discussion go to -
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| The closing lines of John's last letter to his father Rudyard Kipling (Copyright National Trust from the Rudyard Kipling Papers, University of Sussex Library) |
Archive helps to tell tragic story of Kipling's soldier son
The final letter from Rudyard Kipling's soldier son, killed in World War I, is among key items from the University of Sussex to feature in a major new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London.
The scribbled three-page note is addressed to "Dear F" and is dated 25 September, 1915, two days before John was killed in the Battle of Loos. John (or Jack, as he was known), tells his father he is about to march to the front-line trenches for "the great effort to break through and end the war". He writes of pouring rain, incessant gunfire, the trenches and long marches. He writes:
"You have no idea what enormous issues depend on these next few days"
and signs off:
"Well so long old dears. Dear love. John".
The poignant letter is one of 20 items (from the University's Kipling papers, held in Special Collections in the Library) to appear in the My Boy Jack exhibition, which opened at the museum this week (Tuesday 6 November).
Other items from the University's Kipling papers to feature in the exhibition include:
- Letters of condolence to Rudyard Kipling from Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (who both lost sons in the WWI), King George V and Queen Mary;
- Personal items from John's childhood, including a letter from Rudyard Kipling saying he must do better at school, from 1913;
- Copy of Just So stories dedicated to Kipling's daughter Elsie and to John (on the title page "by Rudyard Kipling" is crossed out and replaced with "Their Daddy")
Karen Watson, Senior Library Assistant (Special Collections), who helped to supervise the University's contribution to the exhibition, says: "I think the exhibition was very poignant. It shows how much of a family man Rudyard Kipling was and what great lengths he went to to find out what happened to his son."
The exhibition coincides with the screening of a major TV drama, My Boy Jack, starring Daniel Radcliffe, David Haig and Kim Cattrall, on Remembrance Sunday (11 November, 9pm). It was written by actor David Haig, who plays Rudyard Kipling, opposite Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) as his son John and Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall as Kipling's American wife, Carrie.
Both the exhibition and drama tell the story of how Kipling (who lived in Sussex) helped his teenage only son to gain a commission in the Irish Guards and fight in World War I. Posted to France on his 18th birthday, John went missing six weeks later in his first action, at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. He had previously been declared medically unfit for active service due to severe short-sightedness. The story then follows the grief-stricken efforts of the Kiplings to find their son and to finally accept in 1919 that he had died.
The Kiplings were among the millions of parents who lost sons in the Great War. Many remained missing, with no known grave. In 1992, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission announced that the grave of an 'unknown Irish Guards Lieutenant' was in fact that of John. The exhibition will conclude with an examination of new evidence that strongly disputes this.
The exhibition runs at the Imperial War Museum, London, until 24 February 2008. Entrance is free.
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