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Unit 8: Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm by Rudyard Kipling

“Book-ending” this achievement was the publication of two connected poetry and story Notes
collections: Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906), andRewards and Fairies (1910). The latter contained the
poem “If—”. In a 1995 BBC opinion poll, it was voted the UK’s favourite poem. This exhortation
to self-control and stoicism is arguably Kipling’s most famous poem.
Many older editions of Rudyard Kipling’s books have a swastika printed on their covers associated
with a picture of an elephant carrying a lotus flower, reflecting the influence of Indian culture.
Kipling’s use of the swastika was based on the Indian sun symbol conferring good luck and
the Sanskrit word meaning “fortunate” or “well-being”. In a note to Edward Bok written after
the death of Lockwood Kipling in 1911, Rudyard said: “I am sending with this for your acceptance,
as some little memory of my father to whom you were so kind, the original of one of the plaques
that he used to make for me. I thought it being the Swastika would be appropriate for your
Swastika. May it bring you even more good fortune.” He used the swastika symbol in both
right- and left-facing orientations, and it was in general use at the time.

Such was Kipling’s popularity that he was asked by his friend Max Aitken to intervene in the 1911
Canadian election on behalf of the Conservatives. On 7 September 1911, the Montreal Daily
Star newspaper published a front-page appeal to all Canadians against the reciprocity agreement
with the United States by Kipling who wrote: “It is her own soul that Canada risks today. Once
that soul is pawned for any consideration, Canada must inevitably conform to the commercial,
legal, financial, social and ethical standards which will be imposed on her by the sheer admitted
weight of the United States.” Over the next week, Kipling’s appeal was reprinted in every
English newspaper in Canada, and is credited with helping to turn Canadian public opinion
against the Liberal government that signed the reciprocity agreement. Kipling sympathised
with the anti-Home Rule stance of Irish Unionists. He was friends with Edward Carson, the
Dublin-born leader of Ulster Unionism, who raised the Ulster Volunteers to oppose “Home
Rule” in Ireland. Kipling wrote the poem “Ulster” in 1912 reflecting this. Kipling was a staunch
opponent of Bolshevism, a position which he shared with his friend Henry Rider Haggard. The
two had bonded upon Kipling’s arrival in London in 1889 largely on the strength of their shared
opinions, and they remained lifelong friends.
Many have wondered why he was never made Poet Laureate. Some claim that he was offered
the post during the interregnum of 1892–96 and turned it down.

8.1.5 Freemasonry

According to the English magazine Masonic Illustrated, Kipling became a Freemason in about
1885, prior to the usual minimum age of 21. He was initiated into Hope and Perseverance Lodge
No. 782 in Lahore. He later wrote to The Times, “I was Secretary for some years of the Lodge. . . ,
which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was entered [as an Apprentice] by a member
from Brahmo Somaj, a Hindu, passed [to the degree of Fellow Craft] by a Mohammedan, and
raised [to the degree of Master Mason] by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an Indian Jew.” Kipling
received not only the three degrees of Craft Masonry, but also the side degrees of Mark Master
Mason and Royal Ark Mariner. Kipling so loved his masonic experience that he memorialised
its ideals in his famous poem, “The Mother Lodge”.
8.1.6 The First World War

At the beginning of World War I, like many other writers, Kipling wrote pamphlets which
enthusiastically supported the UK’s war aims of restoring Belgium after that kingdom had been
occupied by Germany together with more generalised statements that Britain was standing up
for the cause of good. In September 1914, Kipling was asked by the British government to write
propaganda, an offer that he immediately accepted. Kipling’s pamphlets and stories were very

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