the poem
|
(notes edited by Roberta Baldi) |
[Mar 10 2003]
Publication
First published as €œPrelude€ as dedicatory piece for Departmental Ditties and Other Verses (4th Edition), 1890. Also collected in E.V., 1900; I.V., 1919; D.V., 1940; Sussex Edition, Vol. 32, page 9; Burwash Edition, Vol. 25 (the ORG entry for this poem is under €œI have eaten your bread and salt€, nr. 487, page 5314).
Background to the poem.
Writings on Writing by Rudyard Kipling (Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds), Cambridge, 1996: 25-26) lists two prefaces intended for such an edition (also known as the 1st English edition) though they were not published in the end, as reported in a letter by Kipling to its first publisher, Thacker Spink, Jan. 1890: €œI€™ve taken Eminent Advice about those prefaces. No. They won€™t do, so I€™ve cut €˜em out and I think I€™m on the safe side. No use telling the public you think €˜em a damned ass€ (ibidem: 169; see also Thomas Pinney and David Allan Richards (eds), Kipling and his first publisher, Rivendale Press, 2001: 67).
It seems nonetheless relevant to notice possible parallelisms between an overt editorial aim of "Prelude" (as far as its English reading public was concerned) and one of such prefaces, i.e. that intended for Indian readers: €œThey have put these verses [...] but you knew and were good to them [...] Also the English public are buying us [...] You, however, can read between the lines I have written and know exactly how far the ditties tell truth, and by how much they err [...] Over here, they insist upon regarding my sermons and moralities as the diversions of an Oriental jester. Therefore I want your sympathy, and now and again just one small sign across the seas €“ a wink would do €“ to show you understand.€ (Sandra Kemp and Lisa Lewis (eds), Cambridge, 1996: 25-26).
[Line 1] I have eaten your bread and salt. In Indian, Islamic, Russian and Jewish traditions, among others, the sharing of bread and salt at the table formalises an indissoluble bond of friendship and alliance (cfr. for instance, Rumi€™s Mathnawi, IV, 2354 and Alexander Dumas Count of Montecristo, ch. 71).
[Line 2] I have drunk your water and wine. Recalls the Canaan episode in John 2: 1-11. [R.B.]
top of the page