If Kipling spent much time with enlisted men, he might have learned their versions
of songs as well as more genteel versions from officers' messes. And if he got
to know music hall performers on terms of intimacy he might have learned some
songs from them that they would never have dared to perform on stage. (I remember,
as an active member of a college radio station, listening to some recordings produced
by broadcast and advertising professionals that were meant only for the private
amusement of colleagues. Had these come to the official notice of the Federal
Communications Commission the consequences would have been dire.)
According to Birkenhead, there were three copies of the poem: one owned by Franklin
D. Roosevelt, one by Winston Churchill, and one by the Royal College of Surgeons.
I would be interested to know how and why those three came to have it. And I wonder
if it has been mentioned in any biographies of Roosevelt or Churchill. I don't
recall seeing any mention of the poem in Michael Makovsky's recent book, _Churchill's
Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft_ (Yale University Press, 2008). Makovsky
makes a strong case for Churchill's Zionist sympathies, and I would think that
Churchill's ownership of a copy of "The Burden of Jerusalem" and his reaction
to it would have been relevant to the discussion.
As always with Kipling, the more you look at, the more you find to look at.
Fred Lerner
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