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" The Gods of the Copybook Headings " is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, characterized by biographer Sir David Gilmour as one of several "ferocious post-war eruptions" of Kipling's souring sentiment concerning the state of Anglo-European society. [1] . It was first published in the Sunday Pictorial of London on 26 October 1919.
The Gods of the Copybook Headings – The Kipling Society. As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us.
- Summary
- Themes
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Analysis of The Gods of Copybook Headings
The poem begins with the speaker stating that originally humankind was directed by a few tenets of common sense and goodness. At some point though these tenets, embodied as “copybook headings” fell to the side. They were replaced with new gods, those of “the Market Place,” or progress, growth, and wealth. Under the influence of these new gods, huma...
The most important themes that Kipling engages within ‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’ are time and morality. The main point that his speaker is trying to make in the ten stanzas of the poem is that things that capitalism, the market, fabs, and trends change but the simple moral statements found on copybook headings never lose their meaning. No ...
‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’ is a ten-stanza poem that is separated into sets of four lines, or quatrains. Each of these quatrains follows a consistent rhyme scheme, conforming to the pattern of AABB CCDD, and so on, alternating as the poet saw fit. With an initial glance at this text, it is clear that Kipling chose to utilize a longer form ...
Kipling makes use of several literary devices in ‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’. These include but are not limited to examples of imagery, caesurae, and alliterationThe first of these, imagery can be seen throughout the poem as the poet depicts the passing of ages and the various states of the world. For example the line, “That Water would cer...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of ‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’, the speaker begins by describing himself as metaphoricallypassing through various incarnations. The different forms he’s taken have allowed him to observe “every age and race.” In each form, no matter when or where he is, he has been at the mercy of the “Gods of the Market Place.” He references the push and pull of want and need, met and controlled by (seemingly) god-like beings. They are the overwhelming forces of the day and he mak...
Stanza Two
In the next two lines of ‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’, the speaker describes the impact of copybook headings have had on mankind. It is not just the phrases in this one context though. He is more interested in the base tenets of a good society and a good life. The underlying structure of one’s moral compass has been in existence since “We were living in trees.” The “they” the speaker refers to are in fact the headings themselves. The phrases taught humankind basics about life. Passed d...
Stanza Three
He goes on to say that while humanity attempted to move on, the copybook headings stayed exactly as they were. They were not moved, like the “Gods of the Market Place” are. Instead, they stuck to their principles and lingered nearby, ready when they were needed again. The speaker and perhaps the rest of humanity, only recall the copybook headings when something terrible happens. The negative side of progress shows its face through the destruction of a city or group of people and then everyone...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
‘Copybook headings’ were proverbs or maxims printed at the top of 19th century British schoolboys’ copybook pages. The students had to write them by hand repeatedly down the page. The poem is built around a series of sayings that would have been familiar to his British and American readers in 1919.
Rudyard Kipling. The Gods of the Copybook Headings. AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us.
Poem The Gods Of The Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling : As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of.
His “Gods of the Copybook Headings” are, in effect, those rules of human conduct that are so well defined by centuries of experience that they have become immutable. To disregard them, says Kipling, will inevitably lead to failure and destruction.
