Record Number: 32348
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'I see no reason to congratulate the Times on its recruiting supplement in any way, nor the country on the necessity (which it allows to remain) for such publications being made. I am afraid that we must admit that Kipling's career as a poet is over. The line to which you refer is the merest prose, as well as very bad metre. And why is the word "stone" introduced, except to rhyme with o'erthrown? on the other hand, if his career be over, we may say that it is creditably over.... Kipling is one of those writers who has the misfortune ... of always being known and liked for his worst works. I mean ... the Barrack Room Ballads, which, however original and clever, are not poetry at all.'
Century:1900-1945
Date:3 Nov 1915
Country:England
Timemorning
Place:Great Bookham
Surrey
'Gastons'
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:29 Nov 1898
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Student
Religion:Church of England
Country of Origin:Northern Ireland
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
Probably Mr Kirkpatrick and/or other members of his household
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:The Times
Genre:Poetry, Articles comprising a call to arms
Form of Text:Print: Newspaper
Publication DetailsRecruiting Supplement to The Times, 3 November 1915
Provenanceowned
owned by the Kirkpatrick household
Source Information:
Record ID:32348
Source:Clive Staples Lewis
Editor:Walter Hooper
Title:C. S. Lewis Collected Letters
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:2000
Vol:1
Page:149
Additional Comments:
From a letter to his father, 11 November 1915
Citation:
Clive Staples Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 149, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32348, accessed: 28 September 2024
Additional Comments:
Kipling's poem is 'For all we have and are', which was first published in The Times, 2 September 1914, after news of the Retreat from Mons. The lines referred to read: Our world has passed away In wantonness o'erthrown. There is nothing left today But steel and fire and stone.
