Salt Lake Herald | 1899-03-31 | Page 2 | The Cause of Kipling's Popularity

Th Cause of Kiplings Popularity e Review of Reviews It has been generally suggested that the workingsnans enthusiasm for Rip flag irs due to the omniscience of this writer of 34 years that the soldier reveres re-veres hisS for his knowledge of a aol chiers work pleasures ansi woes that the railroad man swears by him he cause he understands so well how an engine ha built that the sailor and the fisherman the public hmool boy the city clerk the mechanic ibid the fascination fas-cination in his perfect acquaintance with theIr life No doubt this clinches the charm but certainl > a broader principle unerlies the popularity which the poet and ficrtonist has won with the masses This is that he appeals to the emotional side of his readers as well as tc the intllertual man A man like Matthew Arnold be Ire never so great finds hirnseif perhaps with some ap prtsval cut off from all but those read era ha whom there is some unusual de nreq efoteliecuai training ad refine nuet Kipling mast rs such readers too ivith his magrtillcent certaInty of phrase and heaithfut vjgor and with his soulstirring dramatic faculty pro coeds to capture the rest of the world that knows better how to feet than to think DoubtIese too his briliiaatly early success as a popular author it due very largely to his choice of sub jeets to the vigorous munching of his genius into the topic of the hour the present problem of the nation Thus as good a poem as Thi White Marts Burden might easily have beers Un nptleed by the world at large had t acne of the tremendous public interest whirls has brought chat noble uttersince into the mouths of millions of Amer cans Hero Mr Kipling has in his pa etic work an advantage anda danger anaogous to those which are before the lessersngers of stage topleat songs A palpable hit is certain to fetch the whole house on the other hand the populace is expevung a hit every time and few performers can invariably rnert its demantie Mr Kipling seems to be such en inevttabhe sort of a fellow that one is surprised even to hear that he ever writes things over twice before giving them to us But he assures the rare anti happy Interviewer that most of wthat he writes goes into the wastebasket waste-basket