Tag Archives: Rudyard Kipling

Our Embattled Health Care Workers

In Kaye’s “Far Pavilions,” the hero sees the British botching an expedition but joins them anyway. This is how I see our healthcare workers.

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Giuliani, a Kiplingesque Fortune Hunter

Rudy Giuliani resembles the fortune hunters in Kipling’s “The Man Who Would Be King.”

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What Drives You to Go Forth?

Spiritual Sunday The prodigal son is one of Jesus’s most challenging parables. I once read about a rightwing Christian arguing that Jesus had it all wrong since the story’s outcome violated her views about who deserves to be helped, whether by God or the government. Writers have had their own interesting takes. Andre Gide, tormented […]

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Poems for Resisting Trump

New York columnist Roger Cohen suggests two poems for resisting Trumpism: “if” and “Harlem.”

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The Soldier Knew Someone Had Blundered

Donald Trump is refusing to take responsibility for the failed Yemen raid where a Navy Seal was killed, along with 30 civilians. The raid brings to mind the “Charge of the Light Brigade,” although more appropriate might be the Rudyard Kipling sequel, where the poet blasted England for failing to take care of the survivors.

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Kipling Perfectly Describes Brexiteers

A “Guardian” article applies Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Dead Statesman” to those irresponsible politicians who brought about Brexit. The poem applies equally well to Donald Trump.

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How Kipling’s Kaa Would Fight ISIS

ISIS resembles the Monkey People in Kipling’s “Jungle Book” in the way it craves attention. It is defeated by Kaa, but the authoritarian python brings his own set of problems, a fascist reaction to anarchy.

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Kobe: The Lone Wolf Going Down

Kobe is both like and unlike Akela, the Lone Wolf in “The Jungle Books.”

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Peterson and Literary Child Thrashings

Adrian Peterson’s mistreatment of his four-year-old son has echoes of the caning described by Rudyard Kipling.

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