France at War E-Book

Rudyard Kipling

• Herausgeber: Kipling Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

In 1915, in the second year of the Great War, Kipling made a tour as a journalist on the front of some of the French armed forces. His report of what he had seen of the military activity was published in six articles in the Daily Telegraph, in England, and in the New York Sun. He published some (censored) articles of war journalism in 1915, collected as The New Army in Training and France at War.Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If—" (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".Kipling was one of the most popular writers in England, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.

Leseprobe

FRANCE AT WAR: ON THE FRONTIER OF CIVILISATION

Rudyard Kipling

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FRANCE*

I. ON THE FRONTIER OF CIVILIZATION

II. THE NATION’S SPIRIT AND A NEW INHERITANCE

III. BATTLE SPECTACLE AND A REVIEW

IV. THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE

V. LIFE IN TRENCHES ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE

VI. THE COMMON TASK OF A GREAT PEOPLE

FRANCE*

~

BROKE TO EVERY KNOWN mischance, lifted over all By the light sane joy of life, the buckler of the Gaul, Furious in luxury, merciless in toil, Terrible with strength that draws from her tireless soil, Strictest judge of her own worth, gentlest of men’s mind, First to follow truth and last to leave old truths behind— France beloved of every soul that loves its fellow-kind.

~

Ere our birth (rememberest thou?) side

by side we lay

Fretting in the womb of Rome to begin

the fray.

Ere men knew our tongues apart, our one

taste was known—

Each must mould the other’s fate as he

wrought his own.

To this end we stirred mankind till all

earth was ours,

Till our world-end strifes began wayside

thrones and powers,

Puppets that we made or broke to bar

the other’s path—

Necessary, outpost folk, hirelings of our

wrath.

To this end we stormed the seas, tack for

tack, and burst

Through the doorways of new worlds,

doubtful which was first.

Hand on hilt (rememberest thou?), ready

for the blow.

Sure whatever else we met we should

meet our foe.

Spurred or baulked at ev’ry stride by the

other’s strength,

So we rode the ages down and every ocean’s

length;

Where did you refrain from us or we

refrain from you?

Ask the wave that has not watched war

between us two.

Others held us for a while, but with

weaker charms,

These we quitted at the call for each

other’s arms.

Eager toward the known delight, equally

we strove,

Each the other’s mystery, terror, need,

and love.

To each other’s open court with our

proofs we came,

Where could we find honour else or men

to test the claim?

From each other’s throat we wrenched

valour’s last reward,

That extorted word of praise gasped

‘twixt lunge and guard.

In each other’s cup we poured mingled

blood and tears,

Brutal joys, unmeasured hopes,

intolerable fears,

All that soiled or salted life for a thousand

years.

Proved beyond the need of proof, matched

in every clime,

O companion, we have lived greatly

through all time:

Yoked in knowledge and remorse now we

come to rest,

Laughing at old villainies that time has

turned to jest,

Pardoning old necessity no pardon can

efface—

That undying sin we shared in Rouen

market-place.

Now we watch the new years shape,

wondering if they hold

Fiercer lighting in their hearts than we

launched of old.

Now we hear new voices rise, question,

boast or gird,

As we raged (rememberest thou?) when

our crowds were stirred.

Now we count new keels afloat, and new

hosts on land,

Massed liked ours (rememberest thou?)

when our strokes were planned.

We were schooled for dear life sake, to

know each other’s blade:

What can blood and iron make more than

we have made?

We have learned by keenest use to know

each other’s mind:

What shall blood and iron loose that we

cannot bind?

We who swept each other’s coast, sacked

each other’s home,

Since the sword of Brennus clashed on

the scales at Rome,

Listen, court and close again, wheeling

girth to girth,

In the strained and bloodless guard set

for peace on earth.

~

Broke to every known mischance, lifted over all By the light sane joy of life, the buckler of the Gaul, Furious in luxury, merciless in toil, Terrible with strength renewed from a tireless soil, Strictest judge of her own worth, gentlest of men’s mind, First to follow truth and last to leave old truths behind, France beloved of every soul that loves or serves its kind.

~

*First published June 24, 1913.