Post for the feast of Wilfred/ belated poem for national poetry day

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, it's sort of about work. And this day the Anglican calendar commemorates that tough old bishop, S. Wilfred of Ripon... whose biography was written by his chaplain, Eddius Stephanus, and who features in a memorable Kipling short story in Rewards and Fairies



Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid
In the chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend.

But the Saxons were keeping Christmas,
And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to the service
Though Eddi rang the bell.

'Wicked weather for walking,
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
'But I must go on with the service
For such as care to attend.'

The altar candles were lighted,
And an old marsh donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited,
And stared at the guttering flame.

The storm beat on at the windows,
The water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock
Pushed in through the open door.

'How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,
Said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest.

'But - three are gathered together-
Listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethren!'
Said Eddi of Manhood End.

And he told the Ox of a Manger
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider,
That rode to Jerusalem.

They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them The Word.

Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.

And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
'I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend.

- Rudyard Kipling.

Comments

[fpb.livejournal.com]

...and who drew all his powers from Rome and would have been horrified at the thought of a national church.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Yes, well. We also commemorate Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, who would be horrified at the idea of saints days--especially non-biblical saint's days--being celebrated!

[azdak.livejournal.com]

This was read at my father's funeral.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

It's a complex poem, in its way. The use of 'Saxons' places an historical and cultural distance between the reader and the narrator, in a 'supernatural events happen only in the Bible' manner; yet this isn't biblical Palestine, but an imagined Anglo-Saxon England. The animals and the 'Saxons' leave me with impressions of contrasting levels of unsophistication.

[tree_and_leaf]

Very possibly, but I don't necessarily see that as a reason to forget him.

ETA: I wasn't trying to make any sort of point by saying 'the Anglican calendar'; it's just that I didn't have any means at hand to check when the commemoration falls in the Roman one; they're not always the same.

[tree_and_leaf]

It's a reflection of the slightly ambiguous nature of Anglicanism, in fact. (I hope Cranmer and the Oxford martyrs forgive us, though!)

[tree_and_leaf]

I've always been very fond of it - one of the things I read in childhood and has stuck with me ever since.

[tree_and_leaf]

The use of 'Saxons' places an historical and cultural distance between the reader and the narrator, in a 'supernatural events happen only in the Bible' manner; yet this isn't biblical Palestine, but an imagined Anglo-Saxon England.

The stories in "Rewards and Fairies" all centre on the continuities and discontinuities in English history; mostly they tend to stress the continuities, but the discontinuities are more present in the Saxon stuff. I'm not entirely sure if Eddius was a Northumbrian like Wilfred, but he was certainly a foreigner in Sussex (hence the repeated references to 'the Saxons'). It does have a distancing effect - I think Kipling was going for the effect of a mediaeval miracle story (it's much more distanced than the story that proceeds it, where - while there's a peculiar effect in that the 'Saxons' are the locals, but feel quite 'other' in some ways - Wifred and Eddi seem quite recognisable). The story's interesting; it's at least partly about colonisation, though as always with Kipling, it's not clear who is actually colonising whom...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation. I'd not picked up on what Kipling was doing with 'Saxons', the Northumbrians being regarded as Angles by Bede, ISTR now. I really should read Kipling - I think I've mentioned the lecture by Tom Shippey I attended on Kipling and national mythology which began with Puck of Pook's Hill and drew out the post-Imperial parallels in modern Arthuriana.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I like Eddi. It isn't my favourite Kipling, but it's rather touching.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, you should - Kipling is brilliant, and a much more complex and interesting figure than he's often given credit for being. The Shippey lecture sounds interesting.

There's a tension in the story between conversion to Christianity (I'm not sure what, if anything, Kipling believed, but he certainly thought of Christianity as an integral part of 'Britishness') and the need to keep faith with your past.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Consider Puck of Pook's Hill now bought... and I picked up three of the poetry books in the Oxfam Bookshop on St Giles' too.

[el-staplador.livejournal.com]

the effect of a mediaeval miracle story

Yes, it has about it the distinct flavour of St Foy and her resurrected mules. Erm... in a good way. That is, I liked it. You know what I mean. ;-)

[tree_and_leaf]

it has about it the distinct flavour of St Foy and her resurrected mules. Erm... in a good way.

*bursts out laughing* Oh yes, I know exactly!

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely stuff! I can't remember if you're an Antonia Forest person or not -- I went back to The Attic Term when my Hilary Mantel ghost story got too scary -- and Lawrie doing this for Upper IVA's contribution to the carol service -- marvellous sub-plot stuff. Sorry if this makes no sense!