Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. He is best known for the children's story The Jungle Book (1894), the Indian spy novel Kim (1901), the poems "Gunga Din" (1892), "If— " (1895), and his many short stories.

Career as a writer

In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier; Wolcott Balestier, her brother, an American writer, had been Kipling's friend but had died of typhoid fever the previous year. While the couple was 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 Balestier family lived). Rudyard and his new bride lived in the United States for the next four years. In Brattleboro, Vermont, they built themselves a house called Naulakha (Naulakha means ?nine lakhs of rupees" = a fortune, the value of Sitaghai?s necklace in the novel Kipling wrote with Wolcott Balestier). The house still stands (on Kipling Road), a big interesting dark green shingled house that Kipling himself called his "ship". In the beginning he was very happy there, his father visited him and during this time he turned his hand to writing for children, and he published the works for which he is most remembered today — The Jungle Book and its sequel The Second Jungle Book — in 1894 and 1895. Golf enthusiast Kipling also invented the game of snow golf while playing in Vermont during the winter months.

Related Topics:
1892 - Typhoid fever - Honeymoon - Vermont - Brattleboro - Lakhs - Rupees - Shingle - The Jungle Book - The Second Jungle Book - 1894 - 1895

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But then he had a quarrel with his brother in law, a quarrel that ended up in court. This case darkened his mind and finally he felt he must leave. He and his wife returned to England, and in 1897 he published Captains Courageous. In 1899 Kipling published his novel Stalky & Co. These affecting school stories suggestion something about Kipling's equivocal views of easy patriotism and also include one of the best accounts in literature of a Latin lesson. The book also gave currency to the expression: 'Your uncle Stalky is a great man.' In 1898, Kipling began travelling to Africa for winter vacations almost every year. In Africa Kipling met and befriended Cecil Rhodes, and 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.

Related Topics:
1897 - Captains Courageous - 1899 - Stalky & Co. - School stories - Patriotism - Latin - Africa - Winter - Vacation - Cecil Rhodes - Just So Stories for Little Children - 1902 - Kim

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Kipling's poetry of the time included "Gunga Din" (1892) and "The White Man's Burden" (1899); 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.

Related Topics:
Gunga Din - 1892 - The White Man's Burden - 1899 - German - Naval

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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; bookending 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 single most famous poem.

Related Topics:
20th century - 1907 - Nobel Prize - 1906 - 1910 - If— - 1995 - BBC

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Kipling also wrote the poem Ulster 1912 reflecting the anti-Home Rule stance of Irish Unionists. Kipling was friends with Edward Carson, the Dublin born leader of Ulster Unionism who raised the Ulster Volunteers to oppose "Rome Rule" in Ireland. The poem no doubt reflects on Ulster Day, 28th September, 1912 when half a million people signed the Ulster Covenant.

Related Topics:
Home Rule - Irish Unionists - Edward Carson - Ulster Unionism - Ulster Volunteers - Ulster Day - Ulster Covenant

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