“Epitaphs of the War” is a sequence of epigrams by Rudyard Kipling, published – in its first version, simply entitled “Epitaphs” – in his verse collection
The Years Between(April 1919). Kipling referred to them in a letter as “sepulchral unchristian epigrams” (17 February 1918: Pinney 1999: 484). He added “of the War” to the title in the 1919 “Inclusive Edition” of his verse, and in the updated 1933 edition further added the parenthetic dates “(1914-1918)” as a subtitle. At that stage the sequence still comprised 31 epigrams; a further four that he had written during the 1920s were added when Kipling prepared the 33rd volume of the “Sussex Edition” of his Works, which appeared posthumously in 1938.
The dates of composition of the original thirty-one
2210 words
Citation: Baldick, Chris. "Epitaphs of the War". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35614, accessed 21 November 2024.]
