Rudyard
Kipling
Born Dec. 30, 1865 
Died Jan. 18, 1936
Kipling gained renown throughout the world as a poet and storyteller.
He was also known as a leading supporter of the British Empire.
As apparent from his stories and poems, Kipling interested himself in
the romance and adventure which he found in Great Britain's colonial
expansion.
Kipling was born on Dec.30, 1865, in Bombay, where his father directed
an art school. He learned Hindu from his nurse, and he also learned
stories of jungle animals. At six, he was sent to school in England,
but until he was 12, poor health kept him from attending. At 17,
Kipling returned to India and soon became a journalist. He wrote
sketches and verses which at first were used as fillers for
unused editorial space. Many were later published in Departmental
Ditties (1886). At this time, he also created his soldiers three,
and Irishman, a Cockney, and a Yorkshireman, the bases for his 1888
humorous tale Soldiers Three.
In 1889, Kipling return to England. In the 1890s, he developed a great
interest in folk legends and animal myths. The Jungle Book (1894)
and Just So Stories (1902) give the wit and wisdom of the
animals who can talk. The stories of Mowgli, a man-cub who was the
central character in The Jungle Book, brought Kipling great
popularity in England and the United States.
Kipling composed many of his poems while living
for several years in the United States in the mid-1890s. His poems became famous
for their lively, swinging rhythm. Typical are Gunga
Din and Mandalay. The
first tells of the courage of an Indian boy who is shot while carrying water to
British soldiers in the thick of battle. Mandalay tries to capture the
strange atmosphere of the east.
In 1896, Kipling returned to England from the
United States. By then, he was a controversial figure because of his views toward
empire, which many misunderstood. In many of his works, Kipling seemed to imply
that it was the duty of Great Britain to carry the
white man's burden by civilizing backward races. But he was not just the
shallow imperialist that his critics tried to make him appear. His famous poem,
Recessional, written in 1897
in honor of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, contains a strong warning to the
British not to exploit other races.
In 1900, Kipling went to South Africa to report the
Boer War for an English
newspaper. In 1905, Kipling completed Kim, his first
major novel. In it he gives a colorful and dramatic picture of the complicated
life of the Indian People, as seen through the eyes of the poor orphan boy, Kim.
Kipling received the 1907 Nobel prize for literature.
Before World War I, Kipling became active in politics. he widely lectured and
wrote for the British cause both before and during the war. His only son was
killed in World War I. After the war, Kipling wrote Songs for
Youth (1925), another of his highly popular works.
Dmitry Karshtedt
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