Historical Figure
Rudyard Kipling
1865–1936
English writer and poet (1865–1936)
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Biography
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English journalist, novelist, poet and short-story writer. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
In Their Own Words (5)
And oft-times cometh our wise Lord God, master of every trade,And tells them tales of His daily toil, of Edens newly made;And they rise to their feet as He passes by, gentlemen unafraid.
Dedication, Stanza 5. , 1892
Many religious people are deeply suspicious. They seem—for purely religious purposes, of course—to know more about iniquity than the unregenerate.
Watches of the Night. , 1888
All gods have good points, just as have all priests. Personally, I attach much importance to Hanuman, and am kind to his people—the great gray apes of the hills. One never knows when one may want a friend.
The Mark of the Beast. , 1891
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints.
Tommy, Stanza 4. , 1892
A fool there was and he made his prayer(Even as you and I!)To a rag and a bone and a hank of hairWe called her the woman who did not care),But the fool he called her his lady fair(Even as you and I!)
The Vampire, Stanza 1. , 1886
Timeline
The story of Rudyard Kipling, told in moments.
Returns to India at 16 to work as a journalist in Lahore. He writes stories about army life, Indian villages, and the mechanics of empire. By 24, his tales of British India have made him the most famous young writer in the English-speaking world.
Publishes The Jungle Book. Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves, becomes one of the most recognized characters in world literature. He writes the sequel the following year.
Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. He's 41, the youngest recipient and the first English-language writer to win. The award committee praises his "power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration."
His son John, 18, is killed at the Battle of Loos. Kipling had used his connections to get the near-sighted boy into the Irish Guards after he'd been rejected by the Army and Navy. John's body isn't found. Kipling spends years searching the battlefields of France.
Dies in London following a perforated duodenal ulcer. He's 70. He'd told his surgeon: "Something has come adrift inside me." He's buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey, between Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.
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