"In the Neolithic Age" is a poem by the English writer

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

. It was published in the December 1892 issue of '' The Idler'' and in 1896 in his poetry collection '' The Seven Seas''. The poem is the source of the quotation: "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, / And every single one of them is right."

Background

The poem was published in the December 1892 issue of the literary magazine ''The Idler'' as the introduction to Kipling's article "My First Book", with the title "Primum Tempus". Kipling experimented with a variety of styles in his poetry. He had also been reluctant to criticize other writers after becoming well known. In 1896, now titled "In the Neolithic Age", the poem was published in Kipling's next volume of poetry, ''The Seven Seas''. He placed it between two other poems about tribal singers, "The Last Rhyme of True Thomas" and "The Story of Ung".

Text

The narrator is a Stone Age tribal singer who reacts badly to criticism of his work. He also deals badly with other artists whose work he dislikes. He kills a younger singer as well as a cave painter. His actions are noticed by his tribe's

totem A totem (from oj, ᑑᑌᒼ, italics=no or '' doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While ''the ...

, who visits him in a dream. In the second half of the poem the narrator has been reincarnated as a present-day poet. "And I stepped beneath Time's finger, once again a tribal singer / nd a minor poet certified by Tr—ll" In January 1892 H. D. Traill had published an article "Our Minor Poets". In March he published a sequel which added Kipling to the list. This stanza was omitted when the poem was published in ''The Idler''. The poet finds his fellows still neglecting their own work to criticize others.

Critical reception

The collection ''The Seven Seas'' was praised in the American press by

Charles Eliot Norton Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...

in the '' Atlantic Monthly'' and

William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'', ...

in ''

McClure's Magazine ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...

''. In London the '' Saturday Reviews response was mixed. It begins by considering "In the Neolithic Age" and its two companion tribal singer poems to be "all excessively clever" and an attempt to "instruct the reviewer what to say". The review continues: "No, dear Kipling, there is only one way..."

Musical setting

In 1993

Leslie Fish Leslie Fish is a folk musician, author, and anarchist political activist. Music Along with The DeHorn Crew, in 1976 she created the first commercial filk recording, ''Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet''. Her second recording, ''Solar S ...

set the poem to music and recorded it with Joe Bethancourt on their album ''Our Fathers of Old'',. This is the third album Fish has done based on Kipling's poems.

References

{{Rudyard Kipling Poetry by Rudyard Kipling 1892 poems