"Study of an Elevation,
in Indian ink"

(notes edited by Roberta Baldi)



the poem

[March 17 2008]

Publication

First printed in the Civil and Military Gazette, February 9th, 1886 and the Pioneer, February 18th, 1886. Collected in Departmental Ditties and Other Verses, 1886, E.V., 1900; I.V., 1919; D.V., 1940; there are two “First Lines” in Sussex Edition, Vol. 32, page 7 and Burwash Edition, Vol. 25 (ORG entry: nr. 167, page 5109).


Notes on the text


The lines refer to the whole poem, heading lines included.

[Title] in Indian Ink 1. A black pigment made from lampblack mixed with a binding agent and molded into cakes or sticks. 2. A liquid ink made from this pigment. Also called 'Chinese ink'.” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company, India ink, http://www.bartleby.com/61/14/I0101400.html May 21 2004).

This is a play on words, as an elevation is also a depiction of the front, back etc. of a building on an architect’s plan, as well as a lifting up or promotion. See also Something of Myself page 207 for Kipling’s liking for and use of Indian inkm and page 230 for his desire for a servant to prepare it for him.

[Line 1] ditty Intratextual echo to the title of the collection, Departmental Ditties.

[Line 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 26, 29] Potiphar This name can be found in Genesis 39, to identify the officer of the Pharaoh who bought Joseph in Egypt; he later imprisoned him when his wife falsely accused Joseph to tempt her virtue. See, for instance, also related paintings such as ‘Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife’ attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi, and ‘Joseph Accused by Potiphar’s Wife’ (1655) attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).

C.E. This stands for 'Civil Engineer', a professional engineer concerned with roads, bridges and other public works, as opposed to an R.E., a Royal Engineer (or 'Sapper'), a soldier concerned with military engineering.

[Line 2, 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, Stanzas 1-5] Gubbins Maybe a pun on “gubbins” as “prize” ? – Gubbins does indeed get an instantaneous social benefit from his relationship with Mehitabel.

Partridge (A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English ed. Paul Beale, Routledge 8th edition. 2000) defines 'gubbins' as fish-offal, rubbish, or alternatively as as a word like thing-a-ma-jig etc. for the name of something one cannot remember It is also the name of the Royal Marine Captain in “Their Lawful Occasions, Part 1 (Traffics and Discoveries page 105 line 1) who is never heard of again.

[Line 14, 27] Mehitabel A female name meaning “God is our joy” in Hebrew. Incidentally, both a “Professor Gubbins” and a “Mehitabel” appear in the story "Dorchester Polytechnic Academy" (1879) by James DeKoven (Chapter IV).

[Line 29] Should I have riz to what Potiphar is This statement sounds ironic if contrasted with the “Potiphar/Joseph” episode in the Bible briefly mentioned above, as Joseph, not Potiphar, is the one of humble origins rising at Pharaoh’s court.


[R.B.]