To view more poems I have examined, click HERE.
The Beginnings
by Rudyard Kipling
It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late
With long arrears to make good,
When the English began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy-willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the English began to hate.
Their voices were even and low,
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show,
When the English began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd,
It was not taught by the State.
No man spoke it aloud,
When the English began to hate.
It was not suddenly bred,
It will not swiftly abate,
Through the chill years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the English began to hate.
_______________________________
You might have heard that there’s been a bit of political turmoil in the U.K. recently. There seems to be a belief in England that flying the English flag is intolerant and motivated by racism. Not surprisingly, not everyone agrees – or else they do agree and fly it anyway. As is often the case when people search for the proper words to use for building a perimeter around their feelings – or perhaps to provide a direction for them to move – a lot of folks are doing that word searching in poetry.
I came across this poem in an attempt to find out whether it was a misattribution. For the most part, surprisingly, it was not. Kipling did in fact write this poem. However, when I saw it shared online, the word “English” was replaced with “Saxon.” I suspect that is became a lot of the political in-fighting in England at present is racial in nature and Saxon provides a bit more clarity regarding who is who. (In Kipling’s time, this would not have been a potential point of confusion.)
The context of the piece relates to growing and changing British sentiment toward Germans during the first World War. (more via wiki)
“The Beginnings” is a 1917 poem by the English writer Rudyard Kipling. The poem is about how the English people, although naturally peaceful, slowly become filled with a hate which will lead to the advent of a new epoch.
The first four stanzas have four lines each with alternate rhymes, while the fifth (and final) stanza has five lines. The last line of every stanza ends with “… the English began to hate”. The context is the anti-German sentiment in Britain during the First World War. Kipling was known for never portraying Germans in a positive light, and had been the first to use the word “Hun” as a slur for Germans. The poem was written following the death of his son in that war.
The poem first appeared in Kipling’s 1917 collection A Diversity of Creatures, where it accompanies the short story “Mary Postgate”. The story had originally been published in 1915, but without the poem.
Given the context, it’s interesting to see the Saxon for English present-day substitution, given that the original poem was written about the Germans who share a Saxon heritage with the English.
I understand the appeal of this poem to an English reader (it paints Kipling’s countrymen in a favorable light – slow to anger, vigilant in the administering of retribution), but I wonder how this was received outside of England. I mean.. at the time of publication, the slow to hate English presided over the largest empire in human history. It was actually the largest empire in history by a WIDE margin. If you take Kipling literally, it makes you wonder what the rest of the planet did to England a few centuries earlier.
Largest empires by land area
For context, the land area of the Earth, excluding the continent of Antarctica, is 134,740,000 km2 (52,023,000 sq mi).
Empires at their greatest extent
.jpg)
Empire size in this list is defined as the dry land area it controlled at the time, which may differ considerably from the area it claimed. For example: in the year 1800, European powers collectively claimed approximately 20% of the Earth’s land surface that they did not effectively control. Where estimates vary, entries are sorted by the lowest estimate. Where more than one entry has the same area, they are listed alphabetically.
| Empire | Maximum land area | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Million km2 | Million sq mi | % of world | Year | |
| British Empire | 35.5 | 13.71 | 26.35% | 1920 |
| Mongol Empire | 24.0 | 9.27 | 17.81% | 1270 or 1309 |
| Russian Empire | 22.8 | 8.80 | 16.92% | 1895 |
| Qing dynasty | 14.7 | 5.68 | 10.91% | 1790 |
| Spanish Empire | 13.7 | 5.29 | 10.17% | 1810 |
| Second French colonial empire | 11.5 | 4.44 | 8.53% | 1920 |
| Abbasid Caliphate | 11.1 | 4.29 | 8.24% | 750 |
| Umayyad Caliphate | 11.1 | 4.29 | 8.24% | 720 |
| Yuan dynasty | 11.0 | 4.25 | 8.16% | 1310 |
| Xiongnu Empire | 9.0 | 3.47 | 6.68% | 176 BC |
| Empire of Brazil | 8.337 | 3.22 | 6.19% | 1889 |
| Empire of Japan | 7.4–8.51 | 2.86–3.285 | 5.49%–6.32% | 1942 |
| Eastern Han dynasty | 6.5 | 2.51 | 4.82% | 100 |
| Ming dynasty | 6.5 | 2.51 | 4.82% | 1450 |
| Rashidun Caliphate | 6.4 | 2.47 | 4.75% | 655 |
| First Turkic Khaganate | 6.0 | 2.32 | 4.45% | 557 |
| Golden Horde Khanate | 6.0 | 2.32 | 4.45% | 1310 |
| Western Han dynasty | 6.0 | 2.32 | 4.45% | 50 BC |
Commentary aside, there’s something very moving about ‘The Beginnings.’ The notion of the man who simply wanted to be left alone is one that has resonated throughout history in story-telling. I suppose that telling someone, “what I’m about to do to you is entirely your own fault,” is an innately enjoyable message, provided you’re on the right side of its delivery.
For a reading of the poem in its altered version, I present to you the following:
