Rudyard Kipling and CJ Dennis

[Stephen Whiteside]

Last Sunday I attended my first Melbourne ARVOs meeting for a while. (See general report under 'Events'.)

Following the recent establishment of the CJ Dennis Society, I have been reading and thinking more than ever about Dennis. I remembered that his first book, 'Back Block Ballads and Other Verses' was a nod to Rudyard Kipling's 'Barrack Room Ballads and Other Verses', published in 1892. I read a few of these poems a long time ago, and thought they were fantastic. In fact, these two books inspired the title of the cassetted album I recorded in 1983, 'Back Block Ballads'. (At the time, I was feeling frustrated with Australians' preoccupation with American stories. To quote myself at the time (roughly), 'There's a whole world of wonder outside our own back door!')

Anyway, to return to Kipling. The introduction to my volume told me that for about forty years after its publication, it was the most popular book of rhyming verse in the world. It also stated that, between Shakespeare and Kipling, almost nothing was written about the common soldier in English literature. The national hero was the sailor, not the infantryman. I also learnt that Kipling was the first to give the Cockney accent legitimacy in literature. This reminded me very much of what Dennis did with the slang of Little Lonsdale Street in Melbourne. No wonder Dennis was so inspired by Kipling!

At the ARVOs meeting I read a Kipling poem in the first round, and a Dennis poem in the second. The Kipling poem was 'Danny Deever', a very moving piece about capital punishment within the ranks. The Dennis poem was 'The Boon of Discontent', a truly hilarious piece which I had read many years ago, but completely forgotten. Dennis is so incredibly creative with his rhyming patterns, as I have remarked before. What is amazing about this poem is that the last line of every verse does not rhyme with anything. It creates a very interesting effect.

I have been very mindful in recent years of the influence that English poet laureate John Masefield had on CJ Dennis. I had completely forgotten about the influence of Kipling, but it was very real, and I now have a better understanding of why.

[Vic Jefferies]

G'day Stephen I am also a fan of Kipling and treasure my copy of his (in my opinion) best book "Kim." I believe his "The Man Who Would Be King" is one of the best short stories ever written.
He was an amazing man and a friend of the Banjo who met him during the Boer War in South Africa. Kipling had an obvious influence upon Banjo as well as CJ Dennis.
Danny Deever is indeed a very fine and touching poem though many people know him best for his wonderful poem IF which I believe he wrote for his son John who tragically died in the First World War a loss that Kipling reportedly never recovered from. IF was at one time voted the most popular poem in the world.
I have a number of his old books and each of them bear the Indian sign which the swastika was modeled on.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Yes, I've started to poke around Kipling a little bit over the last week or so. He seems to have been something of an outsider from a literary point of view. He seemed to have very little contact with most of the 'literary giants' of the day, and made his own way - and tracks. I find that very inspiring.

I was reading 'Danny Deever', and a few of the other poems, to my son, and I think he was quite impressed. He made the point that Kipling is now remembered as an Imperialist and something of a warmonger, so it is interesting to see him taking the point of view of, and expressing sympathy for, the common soldier earlier in his career. Are the two points of view consistent, or did he change?

There was some discussion around Kipling at the ARVOs last Sunday. A suggestion was made that Kipling put a lot of pressure on his son to join the Army, although his eye-sight was very poor. I recall that he died in the Battle of Loos, which was one of the great stuff-ups from memory. Was that the first time tanks were used, or am I thinking of something else? I think I read a bit about it in 'Goodbye to All That' (Robert Graves) earlier in the year.

[Maureen K Clifford]

There was a movie on TV just last week on Rudyard Kipling and his son was played by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) it was a brilliant movie and according to it you are correct...his son was refused an army career 3 times due to poor eyesight but old Rudd bribed the powers that be and got him in. He rose to the rank of officer and per the movie was much loved and respected by his men because he never asked them to do anything he would not do himself.

John Kipling was accepted into the Irish Guards in August 1914. He died on only his second day on the front line, aged 18


The movie was called My boy Jack and IMO was brilliant

[keats]

The Battle of Loos

Ok who is the first to bring on a comment about this unfortunately named s**tfight?

I can see an army mounted on horseback, and armed with toilet brushes and toilet lids, charging at a horde of attacking, foot bound insurgents, who are wielding bedpans and urinals and 'incistern' on their freedom!

The Battle of Loos

This in itself is worthy of a poem!!!! lol

Neil

[Stephen Whiteside]

It's also referred to as the 'Loos offensive'. I guess that makes sense.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Maureen: Thanks for that. Now that you've reminded me, the film was talked about last week. I'll try to watch it sometime soon.

Marty: Thanks for the clarification.