Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a poet, journalist, novelist, and fabulist. He was as much a product of the British Empire in its heyday as he was its celebrant. In addition to his fanciful stories for children, Kipling is mostly remembered for his ability to relate stories of the Empire in the voice of common man and his celebration of the colonizing presence of the Empire in India.
Born in Bombay, India to literate parents, Kipling's young life was a sad one; he suffered both foster care and the abusiveness peculiar to the English Public Schools. It had a profound effect on both the man and his writing. But nothing would affect the man so much as his adoptive India. Returning to India in 1882, young Kipling started his career as a journalist for the "Civil and Military Gazette."
Family connections introduced Kipling to the cream of the Raj's social elite and he had a unique opportunity to observe the wide panoply, contradictions and all, of life in colonial India. These observations, along with his experiences as a journalist, informed the series of short stories and poems he began to publish. Starting with his volume of poems, "Departmental Ditties" (1886), Kipling produced volume after volume of short prose and verse including such notable stories as "The Man Who Would Be King" and poems as "Baa Baa Black Sheep."
Kipling's fame and following continued to grow upon his return to England in 1892 whereupon he produced a military-themed collection of poems including the instantly popular and enduring classic "Gunga Din." Kipling had become one of the most, if not the most popular writer in the English language.
Travelling widely in these years, Kipling found a wife in America, Caroline Balestier, and lived briefly with her in Vermont. While Kipling never fully acclimated himself to America, he did manage to produce what may be his most enduring work, "The Jungle Books," published in two volumes (1894, 1895). They reveal the best of Kipling's singular style and storytelling abilities.
Kipling's latter years were spent in increasing isolation, as his zealous imperialism fell increasingly out of sync with the growing popular liberalism. Nevertheless, in 1907, Kipling became the first Englishman to receive the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. Kipling died in 1936 in London.
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This article was written by Knowledgerush staff or contributed by users. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
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Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865-January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet.
Kipling's Childhood
Kipling was born in Bombay, India. His father was John Lockwood Kipling, a teacher at the local Jeejeebhoy School of Art, and his mother was Alice Macdonald. They are said to have met at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire, England, hence Kipling's name. His mother's sister was married to the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and young Kipling and his sister spent much time with the Burne-Joneses in England from the ages of six to twelve, while his parents remained in India.
After a spell at boarding school, Kipling returned to India himself, to Lahore (in modern-day Pakistan) where his parents now were, in 1881. He began working as a newspaper editor for a local edition and continued tentative steps into the world of poetry; his first professional sales were in 1883.
His Early Travels
By the mid-1880s he was travelling around the subcontinent as a correspondent for the Allahabad Pioneer. His fiction sales also began to bloom, and he published six short books of short stories in 1888. One short story dating from this time is "The Man Who Would Be a King", later made famous as a slightly differently named movie featuring Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
The next year Kipling began a long journey back to England, going through Burma, China, Japan, and California before crossing the United States and the Atlantic Ocean and settling in London. From then on his fame grew rapidly, and he positioned himself as the literary voice most closely associated with the imperialist tempo of the time in the United Kingdom (and, indeed, the rest of the Western world and Japan). His first novel, The Light that Failed, was published in 1890. The most famous of his poems of this time is probably "The Ballad of East and West" (which begins "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet")
His Career as a Writer
In 1892 he married Caroline Balastier; her brother, an American writer, had been Kipling's friend but had died of typhoid fever the previous year. While on honeymoon Kipling's bank failed and cashing in their travel tickets only let the couple return as far as Vermont (where most of the Balastier family lived). Rudyard and his new bride would live in the United States for the next four years. During this time he turned his hand to writing for children, and he published the work for which he is most remembered today -- The Jungle Book -- and its sequel The Second Jungle Book -- in 1894 and 1895.
After a quarrel with his in-laws, he and his wife returned to England, and in 1897 he published Captains Courageous. The next year he would begin travelling to southern Africa for winter vacations almost every year. There he would meet and befriend another icon of British imperialism, Cecil Rhodes, and begin collecting material for another of his children's classics, Just So Stories for Little Children. That work was published in 1902, and another of his enduring works, the Indian spy novel Kim, first saw the light of day the previous year. In 2001, the novel would be listed as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the editorial board of the American Modern Library.
Kipling's poetry of the time included "The White Man's Burden". In the non-fiction realm he also became involved in the debate over the British response to the rise in German naval power, publishing a series of articles collectively entitled A Fleet in Being.
During the first decade of the 20th century, Kipling was at the height of his popularity. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; bookending this achievement was the publication of two connected poetry and story collections, 1906's Puck of Pook Hill and 1910's Rewards and Fairies. The latter contained the poem If -. In a 1995 BBC opinion poll, it was voted Britain's favourite poem. This exhortation to seize the day is arguably Kipling's single most famous poem.
The Effects of World War I
Kipling was so closely associated with the expansive, confident attitude of late 19th-century European civilization that it was inevitable that his reputation would suffer in the years of and after World War I; Kipling also knew personal tragedy at the time as his eldest son, John, died in 1915 at the Battle of Loos. Partly in response, he joined Sir Fabian Ware's Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the group responsible for the garden-like British war graves that can be found to this day dotted along the former Western Front. His most significant contribution to the project was his selection of the biblical phrase "Their Name Liveth For Evermore" found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves.
In 1922, Kipling, who had made reference to the work of engineers in some of his poems and writings, was asked by a University of Toronto civil engineering professor for his assistance in developing a dignified obligation and ceremony for graduating engineering students. Kipling was very enthusiastic in his response and shortly produced both an obligation and a ceremony formally entitled "The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer." Today, engineering graduates all across Canada, and even some in the United States, are presented with an iron ring at the ceremony as a reminder of their obligation to society.
His Death and Legacy
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and to much less success than before. He died of a brain haemorrhage in early 1936, and continued falling into critical eclipse afterwards. Today it is difficult to decide if Kipling has a rightful place in the pantheon of great writers. As the European colonial empires collapsed in the mid-20th century and the ideas of communism gained influence, Kipling's works were far out of step with the times; many who condemn him are really criticizing the imperialist ideal and not Kipling. His main literary legacy in the period immediately following his death was on American science fiction, as John W. Campbell considered him an ideal to be followed; many science fiction writers still consciously follow his example. Today, Kipling is most highly regarded for his children's books, while in his own lifetime he was primarily considered a poet (and was even offered the post of British Poet Laureate -- he turned it down). There are signs of rehabilitation in Kipling's reputation both as a writer of mature prose and of poetry, as public tastes change once again. Where the pendulum of regard will come to rest remains to be seen.
After the death of Kipling's wife in 1939, his house in Sussex was bequeathed to the National Trust and is now a public museum to the author. There is a thriving Kipling Society in the UK.
See also
External links
Referenced By
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rudyard Kipling".
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If you know facts or have questions about this author post them here.
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I HAVE A TEN VOLUME SET PUBLISHED BY P. F. COLLIER AND SON OUT OF NEW YORK. THERE IS NO PUBLICATION DATE ON THEM. IT IS APPARENT THAT THEY ARE QUITE OLD. THEY ARE BOUND IN RED CLOTH AND HAVE EMBLIMS THAT RESEMBLE SWASTACAS ON THE BOOKS. IT IS ENTITLED KIPLING'S WORKS. DO YOU HAVE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THIS COMPLETE PUBLISHING TEN VOLUME SET?
THANKS
BURNIE
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The set you describe is the Boston 1899 Imperial Deluxe 10 volume set. The print run was limited to 1,000 copies. In good to fine condition, current prices run anywhere from 200-350USD.
It's important to note that those aren't Swastikas. In 1899 when these books were published, Hitler was 10 years old and the Nazi party didn't exist. Long before the Nazis began using that symbol, it was a common abstract decorative motif in Indian art.
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I have a copy of Barrack Room Ballads and Departmental Ditties. There is no date on it,and is published by Barse and Hopkins of New York. There is a picture of a fairly young Kipling inside, is 159 pages long, and has a simple cardboard cover. I am curious about it, if anyone can help?
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there should be more information about his works and things close to that. you should not use too many hard vocabulary words that are rarely used by people or kids.
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I have a 6 volume set published by P.F. Collier and Son. Like Burnie, my books do not contain a copyright or publication mark. Mine are bound in blue cloth. Does anyone have any knowledge about these books? What they may be worth?
Thank you,
Jayn
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The Red Flower
Two words that i have never stopped sipping from ..that I have never ceased glancing at from above.Two streams that have been since ages flowing and meeting again and again to join two worlds;the East and The West: The Arab philosopher's Hayy Ibn Yakthan and the Western's Mowgli in the Book of Jungle.Both Ibn Tufail and Kipling 's kids ,naked and little,had been adopted by the jungle and its inhabitants,the pack of animals and lived secured and safe.But later on and once again they were surrounde by threat and danger .Were it not for The Red Flower or Fire,their way for knowledge and awareness.
This is the work I am on.I'll post it once finished.Is it possible.
EZZEDDINE
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I am curious about what motivated Kipling into writing children's books. Does anyone know why or have any sites they would like to suggest?
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From which poem does the text "This is the tempest long foretold - Slow to make head but sure to hold" come from?
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I have 4 books similar to rickyll (2003-10-18) (as far as the symbols). The cover is bound in maroon cloth and there is an elephant on the inside cover. The title page is as follows:
The New World Edition of the Works of Rudyard Kipling (insert Title of book) and then the following statement:
This authorized edition is published exclusively for Funk & Wagnalls Company.
At the bottom of the title page:
Doubleday, Page, & Company
Garden City, New York, and Toronto
Any info on these books?
Titles include Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories, Departmental Ditties,
Songs from the Books, & Plain Tales from the Hills
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Tim
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Tim (4/19/04),
I may have a book from the same series. Do yours have an embossed RK on the cover? Mine includes The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. I believe they were published after 1900 which is when Doubleday, Page & Company went into business. I THINK they were published prior to 1933. I think that's about when the swastikas were censored out. I'd like to pin down the date of publication and value. Any idea?
PS for Red Hot Lunatic: Kids are people too!
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Rudyard Kipling was a undoubtedly a great writer but what the hell was he thinking when he funded the UVF??????
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he was born a woman
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Hello! My name is John Sherwood. I am a songwriter and am currently working on a C.D. with a collection of songs about character development for kids. I have put Kipling's "If" to music and would like to find out who holds the copyright for the poem and if their is a license fee. If you have any information in this regard please let me know. I would be very grateful.
Yours truly
John
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My daughter recently found a copy of a book entitled simply "Kipling" at a thrift store. It is red leather bound and under the name "Kipling" is a gold-inlayed design of flower and leaf designs inside a square in the upper left hand side of the book. The contents are listed as the Barrack-Room Ballads; Departmental Ditties; Other Verses. There are 271 pages of content. It is missing the date of copyright or publishing/publisher, and we are interested in more information about the book. If anyone has any information about this book, please contact me at my e-mail address listed. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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I have a book published by Harper and Bros. copywrite 1894, New York, NY The Century Co.
The title of said book is "The Jungle Book", by Rudyard
Kipling. It is a greenish colored book with gold lettering and a single gold elephant on the cover. On the back cover is a single gold tiger. Does this book have any value that you know of?
Thank you,
Charles T. Webber
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I HAVE A BOOK TITLED KIPLINGS MESSAGE WHICH IS ENCLOSED INSIDE A BOOK TO PROTECT IT IT IS DATED 1918. IS IT WORTH ANYTHING?
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Many years ago I was given a very old set of Kipling books that were published by the New York Manhattan press. The only dates I have been able to find are where a Mrs. M.D. Akard signed her name in 2 of the books in 1912.
I am considering selling the 8 book set but not sure how to go about finding a buyer. Any suggestions.
thanks, Kelli
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does anybody know if kipling invented kim games before he wrote the book kim>?
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I have 7 Kipling books. They are the Sahib Edition published by P.F. Collier & Son. They have no publishing date. They are titled as followed : Plain Tales From The Hills, The Light That Failed, Mine Own People, Soldiers Three, The Phantom Rickshaw, Poems And Ballads(Barrack-Room Ballads And Other Verses), and Story Of The Gadsbys. In Black And White. The binding is black with gold lettering. I know nothing about them other than they are old. Any information on them that anyone can send to me would be greatly appreciated. THANKS
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goood job Rudyard ur realy good well thnx casue i needed this info for a project in Eniglsh
i luv ur book rickki tikki tavi!!!!!!!!
Anomous<33
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love his poem "if". it was one of the best i've ever read. it was worded beautifully and had great views. i don't really know why but i just LOVE it!!
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i had do research on him for a report and now i'm glad i did. i found him really interesting and love his poem "if". i could read it a thousand times and not get bored. i thought it was amazing and he really nows what he's doing. hope to read more of your things Rudyard! your an inspiration and a great mind. my next project is to not only read your poems but your stories too.
thnx for all you do.
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hey yall wats up
call me whenever
my favorite color is blue
i like cats
i like to dance like a mad woman
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I am searching for a replica of the alphabet
necklace pictured in Just So Stories. My grandson
is quite take by it. He loves to draw the beads
and shells.Let me know if there is such a product.
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I have inherited a collection of ten books called the sahib collection, these are hard cover editions. PUBLISHED BY P. F. COLLIER AND SON OUT OF NEW YORK These are dark brown and beige with gold lettering. I have found pictures of the books in red but not brown, can these be dated or valued in the brown color? Thank You
Brian Ernst
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wow im bored and i have to write a research paper on this add me at myspace.com/ninjamonicarox & myspace.com/peekabooski
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Anonymous Wrote:Rudyard Kipling was a undoubtedly a great writer but what the hell was he thinking when he funded the UVF??????
I suggest you read the poem 'Ulster 1912' by Kipling.
Rudyard Kipling was an Ulster Loyalist who was against home rule.
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