Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "The Tragic Life of Rudyard Kipling" video.

Thanks for that. They say an artist must suffer for his art. Well Kipling certainly did that. I did know something of Kipling's life, though not the early part. And as with Charles Dickens it very much effected his writing. As for him being a jingoistic imperialist, he was a product of his time. His son John should never have served at the front. Without his glasses he was all but blind. The last reported sighting of him was on the battlefield, he was wounded and had lost his glasses. He was seen heading towards the German lines where he was probably killed. I have heard his song Barrack-Room Ballads being sung by officer cadets. He would not have been pleased as this was never what he wanted. A gentleman ranker was a gentleman who served as a common soldier and as such was disliked by both the officers, who thought he was betraying his class, and soldier who viewed him as a spy for the officers in their midst. The only time a ranker, a British term for a soldier, was away from the officers was when he was in the barracks. So the last thing that wanted was one living with them. So it should be sung by common soldiers, as intended, and not by would be officers. And with a lot of irony.
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