Rudyard Kipling

1. Rudyard Kipling

2. Cecil VicarsJared EckardtPeriod 5

3. Background Info • Born in Pompay • Educated at England in the United Services college

4. How he was known • Became known early with his poetry • Became known better for his short story writer for his portrayals of the people, history, and culture of his times

5. Early life • After a spell at boarding school, Kipling returned to India by himself, to Lahore where his parents now were, in 1881. • He began working as a newspaper editor for a local edition and started beginning his poetry • His first professional sales were in 1883.

6. 1880’s • By the mid 1880s he was travelling around the subcontinent as a correspondent for the Allahabad Pioneer. • His fiction sales began to bloom, and he published six short books of short stories in 1888

7. Stories and America • His first story “The Light that Failed” was published in 1890 • He lived in Vermont for 4 years because of bank problems • While in America he wrote his most famous work “The Jungle Book” and the “The Second Jungle Book”

8. Later Life • Kipling and his in laws got in a fight so they moved back to England • 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 • He died of a brain haemorrhage in early 1936.

9. George Orwell Review • During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him • Kipling is in the position of having been a byword for fifty years

10. He is racist • You can not say that when Kipling describes a British soldier beating a “racial term for a black boy" with a cleaning rod in order to get money out of him, he is acting merely as a reporter and does not necessarily approve what he sees • There is no sign anywhere in Kipling's work that he disapproves of the conduct

11. Bible References • Much of Kiplingsphraesology is taken from the bible • He used Psalm cxxvii: "Except the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” to express opinion • For heathen heart that puts her trustIn reeking tube and iron shard,All valiant dust that builds on dust,And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,For frantic boast and foolish word — Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

12. Ideas in His Work • Rudyard Kipling was, in his grand style, the bard of British Imperialism, and in his dialect poems • The human virtues that Kipling is most concerned with - courage, duty, honor, decency, commitment and grit - he is quick to recognize in men and women from all classes and races.

13. Critics • Critics concur that Kipling's early success stemmed, in part, from his ability to inspire deep emotions in his audiences • The imperialist views Kipling expressed in his Indian stories also contributed to his initial success; however, later in his career after political tides in England had shifted, his stories were considered outdated and his popularity waned