Everything about Rudyard Kipling totally explained
Joseph Rudyard Kipling (
December 30,
1865–
January 18,
1936) was an
English author and poet, born in
Bombay,
British India, and best known for his works
The Jungle Book (1894),
The Second Jungle Book (1895),
Just So Stories (1902), and
Puck of Pook's Hill (1906); his novel,
Kim (1901); his poems, including
Mandalay (1890),
Gunga Din (1890), "
If—" (1910) and "
Ulster 1912" (1912); and his many short stories, including "
The Man Who Would Be King" (1888) and the collections
Life's Handicap (1891),
The Day's Work (1898), and
Plain Tales from the Hills (1888). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story"; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift.
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British
Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a
knighthood, all of which he rejected.
However, later in life Kipling also came to be seen (in
George Orwell's words) as a "prophet of
British imperialism." Many saw prejudice and militarism in his works, and the resulting controversy about him continued for much of the 20th century. According to critic Douglas Kerr: "He is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he's recognized as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."
Kipling's childhood
Rudyard Kipling was born on
30 December 1865 in
Bombay,
British India, to
Alice Kipling (née MacDonald) and
(John) Lockwood Kipling. was a vivacious woman about whom a future
Viceroy of India would say, "Dullness and Mrs. Kipling can't exist in the same room." Kipling's birthplace home still stands on the campus of the
Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art in Mumbai and for many years was used as the Dean's residence. Mumbai historian Foy Nissen points out however that although the cottage bears a plaque stating that this is the site where Kipling was born the fact of the matter is that the original cottage was pulled down decades ago and a new one built in its place. The wooden bungalow has been empty and locked up for years.
Of Bombay, Kipling was to write:
Mother of Cities to me,
For I was born in her gate,
Between the palms and the sea,
Where the world-end steamers wait.
According to Bernice M. Murphy:
"Kipling’s parents considered themselves 'Anglo-Indians' (a term used in the 19th century for British citizens living in India) and so too would their son, though he in fact spent the bulk of his life elsewhere. Complex issues of identity and national allegiance would become prominent features in his fiction." Kipling himself was to write about these conflicts as a man of seventy:]]
Kipling's sister Trix fared better at Lorne Lodge, Mrs. Holloway apparently hoping that Trix would eventually marry the Holloway son. The two children, however, did have relatives in England they could visit. They spent a month each Christmas with their maternal aunt Georgiana ("Georgy"), and her husband, the artist
Edward Burne-Jones, at their house, "The Grange" in
Fulham, London, which Kipling was to call "a paradise which I verily believe saved me." In the course of this journey he met with
Mark Twain in
Elmira,
New York, and felt much awed in his presence. Kipling then crossed the
Atlantic, and reached
Liverpool in October 1889. Soon thereafter, he made his début in the London literary world to great acclaim. especially the
Naulakha pavilion situated in
Lahore Fort, which eventually became an inspiration for the title of his novel as well as the house. The house still stands on Kipling Road, three miles (5 km) north of Brattleboro: a big, secluded, dark-green house, with shingled roof and sides, which Kipling called his "ship", and which brought him "sunshine and a mind at ease." Kipling seemed to take to golf, occasionally practising with the local
Congregational minister, and even playing with red painted balls when the ground was covered in snow. However, the latter game was "not altogether a success because there were no limits to a drive; the ball might skid two miles (3 km) down the long slope to
Connecticut river."
In February 1896, the couple's second daughter, Elsie, was born. By this time, according to several biographers, their marital relationship was no longer light-hearted and spontaneous. Although they'd always remain loyal to each other, they seemed now to have fallen into set roles.
The Kiplings might have lived out their lives in Vermont, were it not for two incidents—one of global politics, the other of family discord—that hastily ended their time there. By the early 1890s, Great Britain and
Venezuela had long been locking horns over a border dispute involving
British Guiana. Several times, the U.S. had offered to arbitrate, but in 1895 the new American secretary of state
Richard Olney upped the ante by arguing for the American "right" to arbitrate on grounds of sovereignty on the continent (see the
Olney interpretation as an extension of the
Monroe Doctrine).
There was also foreboding in the poems, a sense that all could yet come to naught.
Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
A prolific writer—nothing about his work was easily labeled—during his time in Torquay, he also wrote
Stalky & Co., a collection of
school stories (born of his experience at the
United Services College in
Westward Ho!) whose juvenile protagonists displayed a know-it-all, cynical outlook on patriotism and authority. According to his family, Kipling enjoyed reading aloud stories from
Stalky & Co. to them, and often went into spasms of laughter over his own jokes.
Other writing
Kipling began 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,
Kim, first saw the light of day the previous year.
On a visit to America in 1899, Kipling and his eldest daughter Josephine developed
pneumonia, from which she eventually died.
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 in 1898 which were collected as
A Fleet in Being.
Peak of his career
The first decade of the 20th century saw Kipling at the height of his popularity. In 1907 he was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature. The prize citation said: "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author." Nobel prizes had been established in 1901 and Kipling was the first
English language recipient. At the award ceremony in
Stockholm on
December 10,
1907, the Permanent Secretary of the
Swedish Academy, C.D. af Wirsén, paid rich tributes to both Kipling and three centuries of
English literature:
(External Link
)
The Swedish Academy, in awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature this year to Rudyard Kipling, desires to pay a tribute of homage to the literature of England, so rich in manifold glories, and to the greatest genius in the realm of narrative that that country has produced in our times.
"Book-ending" this achievement was the publication of two connected poetry and story collections: 1906's
Puck of Pook's 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 self-control and stoicism is arguably Kipling's most famous poem.
Kipling sympathised with the anti-
Home Rule stance of
Irish Unionists. He was friends with
Edward Carson, the Dublin-born leader of
Ulster Unionism, who raised the
Ulster Volunteers to oppose "Rome Rule" in Ireland. Kipling wrote the poem "Ulster" in 1912 (?) reflecting this. The poem reflects on
Ulster Day (
28 September 1912) when half a million people signed the
Ulster Covenant.
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 only son,
John Kipling, died in 1915 at the
Battle of Loos, after which he wrote "If any question why we died/ Tell them, because our fathers lied" (Kipling's son's death inspired a poem, a play, and television drama called
My Boy Jack). It is speculated that these words may reveal Kipling's feelings of guilt at his role in getting John a commission in the
Irish Guards, despite his initially having been rejected by the army because of his poor eyesight, and his having exerted great influence to have his son accepted for officer training at the age of only 17.
Partly in response to this tragedy, Kipling 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 and all the other locations around the world where
Commonwealth troops lie buried. 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 and his suggestion of the phrase "Known unto God" for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen. He also wrote a two-volume history of the
Irish Guards, his son's regiment, that was published in 1923 and is considered to be one of the finest examples of regimental history. Kipling's moving short story, "The Gardener", depicts visits to the war cemeteries.
With the increasing popularity of the automobile, Kipling became a motoring correspondent for the British press, and wrote enthusiastically of his trips around England and abroad, even though he was usually driven by a chauffeur.
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, formally entitled "
The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer". Today, engineering graduates all across
Canada are presented with an
iron ring at the ceremony as a reminder of their obligation to society. The same year Kipling became
Lord Rector of St Andrews University in
Scotland, a position which ended in 1925.
Death and legacy
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. He died of a hemorrhage from a perforated duodenal ulcer on
18 January 1936, two days before George V, at the age of 70. (His death had in fact previously been
incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I'm dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers.")
Rudyard Kipling's ashes were buried in
Poets' Corner, part of the South Transept of
Westminster Abbey, where many distinguished literary people are buried or commemorated.
Following his death, Kipling's work continued to fall into critical eclipse. Fashions in poetry moved away from his exact metres and rhymes. Also, as the European colonial empires collapsed in the mid-20th century, Kipling's works fell far out of step with the times. Many who condemn him feel that Kipling's writing was inseparable from his social and political views, they point to his portrayals of Indian characters, which often supported the colonialist view that the Indians and other colonised peoples were incapable of surviving without the help of Europeans, claiming that these portrayals are racist. An example supporting this argument can be seen by denying any irony in the mention of "lesser breeds without the Law" in "
Recessional" and the reference to colonised people in general, as "half-devil and half-child" in the poem "
The White Man's Burden".
Kipling's links with the
Scouting movements were strong.
Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, used many themes from
The Jungle Book stories and
Kim in setting up his junior movement, the Wolf Cubs. These connections still exist today. Not only is the movement named after
Mowgli's adopted wolf family, the adult helpers of Wolf Cub Packs adopt names taken from
The Jungle Book, especially the adult leader who is called
Akela after the leader of the Seeonee wolf pack.
Those who defend Kipling from accusations of racism point out that much of the apparent
racism in his writing is spoken by fictional characters, not by him, and thus accurately depicts the characters. An example is the soldier who (in "Gunga Din") calls the title character "a squidgy-nosed old idol". However, in the same poem, Gunga Din is seen as a heroic figure; "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din". They see
irony or alternative meanings in poems written in the author's own voice, including "The White Man's Burden" and "Recessional".
Despite changes in racial attitudes and literary standards for poetry, Kipling's poetry continues to be popular with those who see it as "vigorous and adept" rather than "jingling". Even
T. S. Eliot, a very different poet, edited
A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943), although in doing so he commented that "[Kipling] could write poetry on occasions—even if only by accident!" Kipling's stories for adults also remain in print and have garnered high praise from writers as different as
Poul Anderson,
Jorge Luis Borges, and
George Orwell. Nonetheless, Kipling is most highly regarded for his children's books. His
Just-So Stories have been illustrated and made into successful children's books, and his
Jungle Books have been made into several movies; the first was made by producer
Alexander Korda, and others by the
Walt Disney Company.
After the death of Kipling's wife in 1939, his house, "
Bateman's" in
Burwash,
East Sussex was bequeathed to the
National Trust and is now a public museum dedicated to the author. Elsie, the only one of his three children to live past the age of eighteen, died childless in 1976, and bequeathed his copyrights to the National Trust. There is a thriving
Kipling Society in the United Kingdom.
In modern-day India, from where he drew much of material, his reputation remains largely negative especially amongst modern Hindu nationalists and "
post-colonial" critics. However, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India, always described Kipling's novel,
Kim as his favourite book and, in November 2007, it was announced that his birthplace in the campus of the JJ School of Art in Mumbai will be turned into a museum celebrating the author and his works.
Places named after Kipling
Canada
During the first decade of the twentieth century, at a time when Kipling was at the peak of his popularity, a town in southeast
Saskatchewan was named after him. (Initially, the community was known as "Rudyard", but the name was later changed to "Kipling" because another district already had the name Rudyard.) The welcome sign located at the entrance to the town depicts a scroll and feather with the name "Kipling" on it to symbolize his writing career. The town, home to about 1000 residents, now has a senior citizen's residential complex which bears the name "Rudyard Manor". The town of Kipling has become noted because of the now famous
one red paperclip trade where a man managed to turn a paper clip into a house by means of trading. The house he finally ended up with is located in the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan.
Kipling Avenue, a major street in
Toronto, (and consequently also the
Kipling subway station and the nearby
Kipling regional commuter rail station) is also named after him.
There is a township near
Kapuskasing, Ontario, named Kipling township which may possibly have been named after Kipling, though no confirmatory records exist.
United Kingdom
One of the boarding houses in the English
boarding school Haileybury was renamed
Kipling House, in his memory. (In 1942, Haileybury, or more formally,
Haileybury and Imperial Service College, had absorbed the
Imperial Service College, which had already absorbed Kipling's school, the
United Services College.)
In
Brighton, the Rudyard Kipling Primary School and nearby streets Rudyard Road, Rudyard Close and Kipling Avenue, in
Woodingdean, are not far from where Kipling lived in
Rottingdean.
In
Sheffield there's a Rudyard Road and a Kipling Road just off Hillsborough Corner.
In Portsmouth, Hants, there's a Kipling Road
In
Stanmore,
Middlesex, there's a Kipling Place just off the Uxbridge Road.
In the English
Lake District (Gimmer Crag) there's a classic rock climb called "Kipling Groove" - so named by a North Country climber because it was
"ruddy 'ard" (for example very difficult).
United States
When a railroad was being built along the north shore of
Lake Michigan, the managing director, a fan of the writer, asked that two towns be named in Kipling's honour: hence
Rudyard, Michigan and
Kipling, Michigan. There is also a
Rudyard, Montana, and a Kipling community in
Kemper County, Mississippi (founded in the 1880s and then the size of a small town). There is also
Kipling, North Carolina located in
Harnett County, North Carolina, which changed its name in the late 19th century.
There is a boys' summer camp in the town of Hebron, New Hampshire, named after Kipling's hero of The Jungle Book, Mowglis. The camp, founded in 1903, draws much from the Jungle Books characters, themes, and morality lessons. http://mowglis.org
Kipling and the re-invention of science fiction
science fiction during and after its
Campbellian reinvention in the late 1930s.
Kipling exerted this influence through
John W. Campbell and
Robert A. Heinlein. Campbell described Kipling as "the first modern science fiction writer", and Heinlein appears to have learned from Kipling the technique of indirect exposition—showing the imagined world through the eyes and the language of the characters, rather than through expository lumps—which was to become the most important structural device of
Campbellian science fiction.
This technique is fully on display in
With the Night Mail (1905) and
As Easy As A. B. C (1912), both set in the 21st century in Kipling's
Aerial Board of Control universe. These read like modern
hard science fiction (there are reasons to believe this story was a formative influence on Heinlein, who was five when it was written and probably first read it as a boy). Kipling seems to have developed indirect exposition as a solution to some technical problems of writing about the unfamiliar milieu of India for British and American audiences. The technique reaches full development in
Kim (1901), which influenced Heinlein's
Citizen of the Galaxy.
Tributes and references to Kipling are common in science fiction, especially in
Golden Age writers such as Heinlein and
Poul Anderson, but continuing into the present day.
The science fiction field continues to reflect many of Kipling's values and preoccupations, including nurturing a tradition of high-quality children's fiction in a moral-didactic vein, a fondness for military adventure with elements of
bildungsroman set in exotic environments, and a combination of
technophilic optimism with classical-liberal individualism and suspicion of government.
Swastika in old editions
Many older editions of Rudyard Kipling's books have a
swastika printed on their covers associated with a picture of the
Hindu deity
Ganesha. Since the 1930s this has raised the possibility of Kipling being mistaken for a
Nazi-sympathiser, though the Nazi party didn't adopt the swastika until 1920. Kipling's use of the swastika, however, was based on the sign's Indian meaning of good luck and well-being. He used the swastika symbol in both right and left facing orientations, and it was generally
very popular at the time as well. Even before the Nazis came to power, Kipling ordered the engraver to remove it from the printing block so that he shouldn't be thought of as supporting them. Less than one year before his death Kipling gave a speech (titled "An Undefended Island") to
The Royal Society of St George on
6 May 1935 warning of the danger
Nazi Germany posed to Britain.
Works of Rudyard Kipling
» See List of the works of Rudyard Kipling for a complete list.
» See also for lists of the collected volumes by type.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rudyard Kipling'.
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