MASONIC ALLUSIONS AND THEMES IN THE WORKS OF RUDYARD KIPLING

The effect on Kipling's work of his lifelong interest in Freemasonry is an aspect of his writing that has received little critical notice and yet it is at the core of much of his work.;For one to demonstrate the influence of Freemasonry on Kipling's work it is necessary to perceive the critical extremes regarding his religious and imperialist views; to examine the background of Kipling's experiences with, and interest in, the Masonic Fraternity; to discuss the language and ideas of Freemasonry and the application of its philosophy to Kipling's work; and to closely examine his use of Masonic allusions and themes in both his verse and his prose fiction.;Although no attempt has been made to provide comprehensive literary evidence of Kipling's imperialism or of his religion, which are unquestioned features in his writing, it will be shown that his commitment to Freemasonry must be considered as a tempering force to his imperialism and an alternate doctrine to any orthodox religious viewpoint.;Kipling's interest in Freemasonry extended throughout his adult life, from the time he became a Mason in 1886, at the age of twenty, until his death in 1936, at the age of seventy. He was drawn to its principle tenets of Fraternity, Tolerance and Professional Brotherhood. Allusions to the fraternity permeate his verse and his prose from Plain Tales from the Hills, in 1888, to his last published work, Limits and Renewals, in 1932.;Kipling frequently made overt use of Masonic ritual, beliefs and symbolic language, but more frequently relied upon allusive, obscure and cryptic allusions which are completely missed by non-Masons and easily overlooked by many Masons. The reader who misses these allusions may be led into erroneous or incomplete interpretations of the works in which they appear, particularly since Freemasonry often functions in apposition to Kipling's religious and imperialist beliefs. Although religion and imperialism are undeniably major elements in much of Kipling's work, a great amount of that work that is often interpreted as having solely religious or imperialist implications can be shown, with equal plausibility, to have a correlative basis in the dogma, traditions and symbolism of Freemasonry.;Although it is not implied that every time Kipling wrote a story or poem that he did so with any conscious idea of presenting specific Masonic ideas or beliefs, it is shown that Masonic creed and teaching pervasively underscored so much of Kipling's personal philosophy that Masonic themes, language and symbolism permeate the entire range of his work, resulting in a lessening of the harshness of both his imperialism and the dogmatic extremes in the religion of his Wesleyan grandfathers.;Although there are fewer allusions to Freemasonry in his verse than in his prose, the thematic influence is noticeable throughout the entire range and there are a number of poems in which there are definite Masonic references and themes. These allusions are of several types, from brief "one-liners" to poems such as "The Mother-Lodge," which are Masonic in their entirety.;Kipling's prose fiction also demonstrates a wide variety of Masonic allusions which, as with the verse, vary from the brief to complete stories in which Freemasonry is at the very core of the story itself. In all, forty-one separate works of prose are examined and their Masonic implications made evident.;The net result of close explication of Masonic allusions in Kipling's work conclusively demonstrates the influence of Freemasonry on his writing, his commitment to Masonic ideals, and the importance of Freemasonry as a philosophy at least equal to his imperialist and religious points of view.