[footfootfoot]

Pffft. As if any of you have ever Kippled.

I have always read Kipling to be on the side of the soldiers and the proles and critical of government and bureaucracy, cf The Last of the Light Brigade or Study of an Elevation in Indian Ink.

I have always detected immense irony and sarcasm in his work, and continue to be flummoxed by those who read works like "The Betrothed" and think Kipling is a misogynist rather than calling out the shallowness of the couple.

I'll wager he was rather cranky IRL. When I lived in Brattleboro there was an awful lot about him in the local history books and lore, and they painted him a rather decent chap despite his pain in the ass brother in law, whom he suffered graciously.