The Book That Made Kipling
Sir George MacMunn traces Kipling’s masterly handling of English and of storytelling to reading the King James Bible aloud.
1938
King George VI 1936-1952
Sir George MacMunn traces Kipling’s masterly handling of English and of storytelling to reading the King James Bible aloud.
1938
King George VI 1936-1952
In his biography of Rudyard Kipling, Sir George MacMunn drew attention to the impact on Kipling’s work, in prose as well as in verse, of the Authorized or ‘King James’ translation of the Bible, published in 1611 under King James VI and I. MacMunn reminds us that reading the King James Bible out aloud is one of the best and most proven ways for a writer to gain an appreciation of good English — and good stories.
ANYONE familiar with Kipling’s work cannot but be struck with the remarkable frequency and the way in which Old Testament names, stories, plots and analogies are introduced, always with striking effect. Apart from the glory of the Book itself, Kipling, as a great master of the more expressive English, was a lover of its rhythm and measured phrase.
It has been said that only those who have had to read the Old Testament aloud when young ever get the true cadence of the English tongue into their minds and ears, and that all writers of good prose have had this training. Since the great scholars of the Authorized Version — the “Book that made England” — wrote at perhaps the best period of the polished language — the “Sanskrit” of Anglo-Saxon — it is not to be wondered at. But since the Testaments, from a literary point of view, contain some of the best “short stories” of the world, there was this reason also for that omnivorous diver into the written word to know the Bible from cover to cover.
From ‘Rudayrd Kipling: Craftsman’ (1938) by Sir George MacMunn (1869-1952).
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.