Tag Archives: Rudyard Kipling

Mary and Martha: The Better Part?

By Robin Bates | Published: July 19, 2025

In Kipling’s “The Sons of Martha,” the speaker channels Martha’s resentment against her sister Mary, who chooses to sit at Jesus’s feet.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Collar", "Sons of Martha", contemplative life, George Herbert, life’s distractions, Mary and Martha, resentment, sibling rivalry | Comments closed

Children’s Lit in the Golden Age

By Robin Bates | Published: June 3, 2025

In “Children’s Book” Byatt explores why the Edwardian age was such a rich time for children’s lit.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Soldier", A. S. Byatt, Beatrix Potter, Benjamin Bunny, Children's Book, Children's lit, Defence of Poesy, E. Nesbit, Edwardian Age, James Barrie, Kenneth Grahame, Kim, Peter Pan, Peter Rabbit, Philip Sidney, Puck of Pook's Hill, Railway Children, Rupert Brooke, wind in the willows | Comments closed

Trump’s Viking-Like Threats

By Robin Bates | Published: March 23, 2025

The Weiss law firm has caved to Trump’s threats, in effect (this according to the Bulwark’s Krystol) paying the Dane-geld. This is reference to a Kipling poem.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Dane-Geld", Donald Trump, pressure on law firms, Trump's threats | Comments closed

Kipling’s Warning to Empires

By Robin Bates | Published: November 26, 2024

Kipling’s “Recessional,” written as a warning to the British empire, applies as well to America today.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Recessional", Donald Trump, Election 2024, empire | Comments closed

Election Anxieties? Read Kipling’s “If”

By Robin Bates | Published: October 30, 2024

Milbank uses a Kipling line as he begs readers not to leave the Washington Post. Kipling also provides timely advice for the last week of this election.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Election 2024, If, Jeff Bezos, Washington Post | Comments closed

The U.S. Ignored Kipling’s Cautionary Tale

By Robin Bates | Published: October 11, 2024

Would the USSR and the USA have saved themselves a lot of blood and money in Afghanistan by reading Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King” before going in.