 |
(notes edited by Roberta Baldi) |
the poem 
|
[June 23 2004]
Publication
First printed in Civil and Military Gazette, March 9th, 1886. Collected in Departmental Ditties and Other Verses, 1886, E.V., 1900; I.V., 1919; D.V., 1940; Sussex Edition, Vol. 32, page 23; Burwash Edition, Vol. 25 (ORG entry: nr. 170, page 5109).
Some critical comments
Harry Ricketts has commented:
“Exeter Battleby Tring, an expert railway-surveyor, was the obvious candidate to manage ‘The Railways of State’. But since he did not come from the right social bracket, ‘the Little Tin Gods on the Mountain Side’ pensioned him off at great expense and appointed ‘a Colonel from Chatham’ in his place. Such a scam was likely to strike a chord with readers who were themselves regularly frustrated by a system of snobbish preferment. Rud gave extra force to his satire by dislocating the rhythm of the lines so that the act of reading them was itself frustrating. [stanza 1 quoted] By rhyming the anapaestic lines alternatively. Rud displaced the natural movement of the verse, just as the Little Tin Gods had displaced what should have been the natural administrative order.” (H. Ricketts, Rudyard Kipling. A Life, Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc., New York 2000, 2001, pages 90-91)
The lines refer to the whole poem, heading lines included.
[Line 1] Walpole Sir Robert Walpole, eighteenth-century British Prime Minister.
[Line 1] a man and his price. “Flowery oratory he despised. He ascribed to the interested views of themselves or their relatives the declarations of pretended patriots, of whom he said, ‘All those men have their price’.[...] attributed to Coxe: Memoirs of Walpole. Vol. iv. p. 369.” (John Bartlett (1820–1905).
[Line 6] the Little Tin Gods on the Mountain Side. “A disrespectful reference to the Viceroy of India and his Executive Council, who during the summer months have their headquarters in the hills at Simla” ( Durand pages 4-5). For further reference to Simla see “Army Headquarters”.
[passim] Tin Gods. This refers to tin as a base metal, esp. in comparison with silver: Mean, petty, worthless, counterfeit. 'Tin Gods' are worthless idols.
[Line 7] By the Laws of the Family Circle. “Kipling had his own ‘family circle, consisting of himself, his sister, and his parents, who shared their problems and supported one another. The 'family circle' referred to here is that of the social and political 'establishment' of British India, the power élite of the Raj, who made the rules and set the standards.
[Line 8] Chatham. The town in Kent where officers of the Royal Engineers attended the School of Military Engineering.
[Line 9] breeks breeches or trousers.
[Line 14] iron horse Railway locomotive. The 'Lords of the Iron Horse' were the men that ran the railways.
[Line 15] jettier Of the colour of jet, jet-black.
[Line 17] Vauban “A marshal of France of the seventeenth century, [who] was a celebrated engineer. His work had a profound influence on the arts of fortification and siegecraft”. ( Durand , 1914: 5).
[Line 17] drill In military and derived senses, “4. The action or method of instructing in military evolutions; military exercise or training [...]” (OED, drill n2, entry 4). To say that Tring was not familiar with Vauban or drill implied that although he might have been a thorough railway professional he knew little of conventional soldiering.
[Line 18] the “College” “The Staff College at Camberley, at which officers who wish to qualify for staff appointments are trained” ( Durand , 1914: 5).
[Line 19] harried. In this context, 'worried', or 'tortured themselves'.
[Line 26] berth In this context a situation, place, or appointment.
[Line 27] exempt from the Law of the Fifty and Five “Exempt from the regulation which requires a man to retire at the age of fifty-five” ( Durand , 1914: 5).
[Line 31] Bhamo A district in Upper Burma.
[Line 32] furlong 220 yards, one eighth of a mile, roughly 200 metres.
[Line 34] four thousand a month Four thousand rupees a month. A very substantial pension. The General Manager of the Indian railways earned 3,500 a month. Kipling earned some 375 rupees a month when he had been in post at the Civil and Military Gazette for a year.
[R.B.]
top of the page 