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Post by California gal on Mar 26, 2009 20:06:02 GMT -8
Every time I read Scooter's coda to Pistoleros, I come across the mention at the end that Col. Roper gave Jim a copy of Kipling's poems, called The Thousandth Man. I've never read much Kipling, especially since high school, and never heard of this poem. So tonight I finally Googled it. What an inspired choice.
The Thousandth Man
by Rudyard Kipling
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
But if he finds you and you find him.
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.
You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man h's worth 'em all,
Because you can show him your feelings.
His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight --
With that for your only reason!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot -- and after!
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Post by Kit on Mar 26, 2009 20:42:39 GMT -8
I read this after reading Scooter's Tag to Pistoleros and I fell in love with it... It is a wonderful poem and so fits Artie's and Jim's friendship.
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Paradox Eyes
Cadet
"Hmmmm......Which guns and gadgets today??
Posts: 1,123
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Post by Paradox Eyes on Mar 27, 2009 1:59:04 GMT -8
I have always loved Rudyard Kipling's Poem's. I keep a book of them nearby for relaxation reading. This of course is one of my favorites. It's gets referenced from time to time when we come across stories of great and lasting friendship. I can remember reading a Star Trek story or novel years ago where Spock had gone missing for a long time, being imprisoned. And Kirk spared nothing to find him. At the end, Kirk was given a copy of this same poem. In fact I had just read this poem about 5 days ago for some inspiration in my current story (great minds think alike CG! LOL.) I'm glad you posted here, it certainly is a fitting tribute to Jim and Artie!
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Post by MissRedhead on Mar 27, 2009 3:48:21 GMT -8
Never heard of the writer before, but what a sweet poem on friendship! Yes it fits Jim & Artie to a 'T' andit also fits the friendships of those few who are so lucky to have "The Thousandth Man" as their friend (and I count myself among those blessed!)
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Post by pidge on Mar 27, 2009 4:40:25 GMT -8
I love that poem! Thanks for posting it, CalGal.  |
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Post by ecstasy on Mar 27, 2009 4:46:36 GMT -8
Thanks, CalGal. It is beautiful and very fitting to our boys.
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Y Gal
Book Worm
Posts: 430
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Post by Y Gal on Mar 27, 2009 5:12:34 GMT -8
I looked that up after I first read Scooter's tag. She selected the perfect poem to express our guys' friendship. |
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Post by California gal on Mar 27, 2009 5:45:37 GMT -8
I usually seemed to be (re) reading Scooter's tag rather late in the evening, after I watched Pistoleros for the zillionth time, and never stopped to look up the poem. Last night I made a point of it and I'm glad I did. It is so perfectly suitable for our boys. I may use some quotes from it in the fic I'm currently working on, come to think of it.  |
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Post by Artiespet on Mar 27, 2009 6:32:05 GMT -8
Never heard of the writer before, but what a sweet poem on friendship! Yes it fits Jim & Artie to a 'T' andit also fits the friendships of those few who are so lucky to have "The Thousandth Man" as their friend (and I count myself among those blessed!)  you NEVER heard of Kipling?!? and you want to be a teacher? get your self to a library or look the man up and read missy. I agree this is a great poem to describe Artie and Jim! |
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Post by MissRedhead on Mar 27, 2009 6:42:43 GMT -8
most poetry that I've been introduced to in school was way over my head or I "interpreted it wrong" so most poetry I shied away from  |
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Post by California gal on Mar 27, 2009 6:49:38 GMT -8
Red, you're probably like me, more familiar with Kipling's stories rather than his poems. Such as The Jungle Book, Just So Stories, Gunga Din, Kim, The Man Who Would be King. I actually haven't read the books--but I've seen the movies! |
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Post by MissRedhead on Mar 27, 2009 6:55:51 GMT -8
that's better CG, The Jungle Book rocks :-)
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rielle
Book Worm
yeah, THAT smile.
Posts: 497
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Post by rielle on Mar 27, 2009 6:56:44 GMT -8
most poetry that I've been introduced to in school was way over my head or I "interpreted it wrong" so most poetry I shied away from red I sympathize -- that's what happened to a lot of my classmates from high school and college. The way classes were taught that included poetry was ABYSMAL. I still vividly recall one teacher who had us diagramming the sentences [ that is showing what were the subject and verb etc in POEMS! I was lucky myself in learning to love poetry before I got there. But the other point I wanted to make is you CAN'T interpret a poem 'wrong' and whoever told you that you could was ... to be polite about it, NUTSO. Try giving yourself another chance by reading someone really accessible like Kipling Robert Frost Amy Lowell or Carl Sandburg Edna St. Vincent Millay or Edgar Lee Masters. Then you can move forward and delve into others like Emily Dickinson Theodore Roethke Rainer Maria Rilke and Rumi a Persian poet of the middle ages. And of course there's always what I assume to be Artie's favorite ---Shakespeare which I feel is so musical and lovely to hear  :-*you don't really NEED to literally understand every word |
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Post by MissRedhead on Mar 27, 2009 7:00:59 GMT -8
oh I agree, sometimes I write poems purely to see what others interpret them as with no interpretation of my own  I do like Epic poems Sir gawain and the Green Knight, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, of course Shakey!!!! And there were some others in random poetry books that I liked :-) I'm just really terrible with authors  |
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rielle
Book Worm
yeah, THAT smile.
Posts: 497
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Post by rielle on Mar 27, 2009 12:18:44 GMT -8
oh I agree, sometimes I write poems purely to see what others interpret them as with no interpretation of my own I do like Epic poems Sir gawain and the Green Knight, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, of course Shakey!!!! And there were some others in random poetry books that I liked :-) I'm just really terrible with authors Don't matter. If you remember the poems, that's what the poets wanted :_ I speak as having tried it myself, mostly fannishly. My roomie pointed out though that although they are in iambic pentameter, the plays are hard to read, easier to watch or listen to, so try some of the Sonnets. And watch out for those tricky Elisabethan puns! And I can't brag about reading that many epics, I've yet to try the Aeneid, but I do have Fitzgerald's translation of it and I LOVED his translation of the Illiad. |
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Apple
Desk Jockey
"Speaking of love, Apple..."
Posts: 2,202
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Post by Apple on Mar 27, 2009 13:06:05 GMT -8
I havent read much Kipling, and I was too young when I DID read it. Don't know WHY I owned it. I think my grandma gave it to me from one of the cousins (my Dad's cousins) and I kept it for a while...tried to read it, but didn't like it much. This poem however, is PERFECT and Mary picked a good one to reference in her tag to Pistoleros.
As for Shakespeare...I took a class in college and found that when I took my book with me to view BBC productions, I understood it much better. I have to see it acted, as well as follow along. Very good that way. When I had Shakespeare in high school, it was just Julius Caesar. I went to two different high schools and they did things with english classes much differently from each other. The one I attended for three years had ONE class of Shakespeare that you could choose as an elective. I chose Novels instead. The other high school taught a play a per year, so I got Caesar in 10th grade. And I understood it! Mrs. Coryell was a pretty good teacher.
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Post by MissRedhead on Mar 27, 2009 14:25:15 GMT -8
I used to think Fitzgerald was great (I had Fitzgerald's Iliad, odyssey & Aeneid) and then my best friend introduced me to Fagles. You have GOT to read Fagles if you think Fitzgerald is a great translator!!! I still have trouble getting through the Iliad, but I am sure I will when I can get my hands ahold of the Fagles version. I was obsessed with the Odyssey and my best friend was doing a thesis her senior year asan undergrad on the Aeneid and was comparing Virgil's poem to Homer's poems. Never even having heard of the Aeneid, my best friend had me read it (at that time there was only the Fitzgerald version) and after I had read it and taken notes on it and been her guinea pig, she presented me with a BEAUTIFUL hardcover of Fagles Odyssey and I fell in love with it all ove again lol. Then when Fagles' translation of the Aeneid hit the shelves, I got that too |
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Post by SpottedPony on Apr 6, 2009 15:43:23 GMT -8
I looked up Kipling and found a lots of links to his works. For The Thousandth Man there is a little more than what CG posted.
The Thousandth Man
by Rudyard Kipling
"SIMPLE SIMON" -- REWARDS AND FAIRIES
One man in a thousand, Solomon says,
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it's worth while seeking him half your days
If you find him before the other.
Nine nundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth man will stand your friend
With the whole round world agin you.
'Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for 'ee.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
But if he finds you and you find him.
The rest of the world don't matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.
You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of 'em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man h's worth 'em all,
Because you can show him your feelings.
His wrong's your wrong, and his right's your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men's sight --
With that for your only reason!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can't bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot -- and after!
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Post by California gal on Apr 6, 2009 16:37:16 GMT -8
Thanks, SP. I found the one site, and being unfamiliar with the work, had no idea it wasn't the entire poem. It is such a great poem and suits our guys perfectly.
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Post by SpottedPony on Apr 8, 2009 6:26:06 GMT -8
Only thing is, Kipling was born in 1865, so the poem couldn't be applied to Jim and Artie in the 1870's. But that is the beauty of fanfic, we can 'adjust' the time lines and make it fit!
Spotted Pony
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Post by California gal on Apr 8, 2009 8:01:41 GMT -8
Well, yeah, sure, of course, Rudyard read the newspapers about the famous Secret Service agents and wrote the poem about them.  |
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Post by Kit on Apr 8, 2009 8:50:18 GMT -8
SP that is the one I remember reading.... I am sorry to say I didn't until know read the one CG posted... Yes I just told on myself....
Its still a great Poem weither it is the shortened version or the longer version....
I wrote Poetry in my younger days and I am sad to say that most of it is rather dark...
And Red they are right poetry is open to interpritation unless you have the writer explaining the meaning then it can not be interpreted wrong... And thankfully very few writers give explinations for there poety..
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Post by Double Take on May 15, 2009 6:18:13 GMT -8
I was watching Poisonous Posey last night and there is a reference to Rudyard Kipling's work in that.
When Artie and Jim realize that they were set up and not being hanged Artie comments says something like, "Then this Danny Deever bit was just..."
I was curious who Danny Deever was and Googled him. Danny Deever was a poem by Kipling about a soldier being hanged. It was written in 1890 and may have been about an execution that took place in 1887.
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Apple
Desk Jockey
"Speaking of love, Apple..."
Posts: 2,202
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Post by Apple on May 15, 2009 7:41:14 GMT -8
Whoa Arte could see into the future! |
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you NEVER heard of Kipling?!? and you want to be a teacher? 
:-*you don't really NEED to literally understand every word 
