Great and prophetic poem here...
• Background
Published in October 1919 when the poet was 53 years old, "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" has proved enduringly popular, despite the fact that copybooks disappeared from schoolrooms in Britain and America during, or shortly after, World War 2. A copybook was an exercise book used to practice one's handwriting in. The pages were blank except for horizontal rulings and a printed specimen of perfect handwriting at the top. You were supposed to copy this specimen all down the page. The specimens were proverbs or quotations, or little commonplace hortatory or admonitory sayings — the ones in the poem illustrate the kind of thing. These were the copybook headings.
Here is an example... "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" Santayana
See if you can grasp what he is saying... ask yourself: What is the moral of the story?
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm
This reminds me of a quote by Bruce Olsen as he was held by Colombian Guerrillas. They were attempting to get him to implement his cooperative program (used by the native tribe to whom he was a missionary) for the cause of the Guerrillas. Upon the threat of his life he responded:
ReplyDelete"I appreciate what you are saying, Manuel. And I support what you are trying to do. But I believe offering social development without the conscience of Christ is just changing the environment, the surroundings. Presenting an economic solution to social problems does not alter a person on the inside. If an individuals heart does not change, nothing is really accomplished."