The Gods of the Copybook Headings

by Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Introduction and Text of "The Gods of the Copybook Headings"

The speaker in Rudyard Kipling's poem of social commentary, "The Gods of the
Copybook Headings," declaims in a cosmic voice, similar to the cosmic voice
employed by Langston Hughes in his masterpiece, "The Negru Speaks of Rivers."

The speaker in Kipling's poem demonstrates that fads and fallacies that appear in
the "Market Place" and political arena come and go and, at times, wreak havoc,
while the wise sayings that appear in the children's copybooks remain viable
throughout time.

Commentary
Kipling’s poem is focusing on an important learning tool for students which also
provides the best yardstick for measuring wisdom and morality.

First Stanza: Reincarnating in Every Historical Period

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

The speaker begins with a remarkable claim that suggests he is aware of the
reincarnating soul that travels immortally and eternally through space and time.
After this remarkable assertion, he broaches his important subject that the passing
frivolities which become dominant in the casual society cannot stand up to time-
tested wisdom—like that present in children's literature, offered to instruct.

The speaker is implying that morality does not change, despite the fads of social
interaction. And society will always teach its children what it knows deep in its
psyche to be the correct modes of behavior. What jaded adults have accepted as
appropriate behavior often takes on a new light when they consider passing that
behavior on to the next generation.

Second Stanza: Elites Lacking Vision

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

The wise snippets that have come down from such ancients as the Biblical writers
include humankind's historical roots that run as far back as the lower primates.
Common sense told the ancients as it still tells the moderns, "That Water would
certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn." But the supposedly sophisticated
elites decided that ancient wisdom had grown musty and "lacking in Uplift, Vision
and Breadth of Mind."

So these philosophical bits of wisdom were assigned to the copybooks that teach
children how to write. They were no longer heeded as important for adult guidance.
The elites preferred to heed the "March of Mankind," instead of observing spiritual
wisdom from scripture and other wise sources.

Third Stanza: Wisdom and Morality Entwining

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,

Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

As the modern intelligentsia followed its own misguided direction, those gods of
the copybook remained focused and steady. The "Market Place" gods, however,
continued to plunder and pillage, "caught up with our progress." But from time to
time, the rootlessness of foolhardy activity has resulted in "a tribe" being wiped
out or Rome falling.

Fourth Stanza: The Stench of Moral Relativism

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

The aphorisms and proverbs became fodder for ridicule as relativism rose to justify
inappropriate behavior and thought. As the copybook gods maintained a steady common
sense perspective, the gods of the marketplace continued to offer ludicrous
promises of "beautiful things"—concocting notions of the moon being made of cheese,
that wishes were, in fact, horses, and that pigs could fly.

The speaker uses these outlandish sayings to emphasize the outrageous claims made
by companies who exaggerate the efficacy of their products.

Fifth Stanza: Political and Commercial Delusion

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

The gods of the political sphere turned out to be as delusive as the gods of the
market place. Exaggerated efforts at appeasement for peace turned nations into
enablers of dictatorial power grabbers.

Thus after a nation gives up its means of self-defense, it finds itself "sold and
delivered" to their "foe." Again, the copybook provides the appropriate wisdom,
"Stick to the Devil you know."

Sixth Stanza: The Failure of Modern Morality

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

The promise of "the Fuller Life" was made during the time that the first churches
and temples were being built. But that promise morphed from "loving [one's]
neighbor" to "loving his wife."

And the copybook gods delivered again the proper guidance that "The Wages of Sin is
Death." The transformation from wisdom had caused men to lose faith and women to
refuse to continue to bear children.

Seventh Stanza: The Failure of Statism

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

In the next era, the socialistic statist promised care from cradle to grave by
taking from Peter to pay Paul. But the abundance of money did not motivate growth,
while again the copybook admonished, "If you don't work you die."
As the copybook adage points out, the socialist mind-set always rears its ugly head
because too many folks fail to learn the lesson of history. Instead of thinking
through the false claims of power seekers, too many citizens allow themselves to
blinded by the shiny objects. Thinking that a power-hungry politician can help you
pay your mortgage and put gas in your car is akin to believing the tooth fairy will
leave cash under your pillow.

Eighth Stanza: Returning to Stayed Wisdom

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

After eons of folly, mankind, even in the market place where "their smooth-tongued
wizards withdrew," begins to return to stayed wisdom, to common sense, to values
that work. Even the "hearts of the meanest" begin to believe, "That All is not Gold
that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four." And yet again the copybook "limped up to
explain it once more."

Again the copybook wisdom clearly explains that society has to operate according to
basic moral laws or it will cease to operate at all. The existential dilemma of
right and wrong do have absolutes attached regardless of the mistaken philosophical
psycho drama offered by the relativism of the secular humanists.

Each human being has free will, but there is a limit to that free will, and that
limit is the boundary between good will and ill will. If you fail to accept the
fact that, like you, your neighbor also has free will, you will commit heinous
crimes against your neighbor and against yourself.

Ninth Stanza: The Failure of Social Progressivism

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man

There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

The speaker summarizes the human condition citing four areas where certainty exists
that throughout all human history: (1) canines will come back to their "Vomit"; (2)
hogs will return to their mud hole; (3) the injured will return to their place of
injury. He places number four in the final stanza.

Tenth Stanza: Wisdom, the Only Security

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

After all, the foolishness of humankind has delivered human beings into their just
rewards, and they finally learn that water gets us wet, and fire burns us; thus,
(4) the tenets of the copybook adages will hold sway as they return with a
vengeance. The wisdom of the copybook gods provides the permanent security that a
foolhardy humankind has spurned.

Boiling itself down to good old common sense, taking life one step at a time,
remaining humble and seeking self-understanding, while following the Golden Rule,
the wisdom of the Copybook retains a luster that will light the behavior of
humankind as long humankind walks upon the earth.

Rudyard Kipling 3