Biography Category
Name :
Rudyard Kipling
Date :
Views :
584
Category :
Birth Date :
30/12/1865
Birth Place :
Bombay, India
Death Date :
18-Jan-36
Not Available
[b]Childhood [/b][br /]
[br /]
If you can keep your head when all about you[br /]
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you[br /]
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you[br /]
But make allowances for their doubling too[br /]
[br /]
John Lockwood Kipling and his wife Alice came to India. John was serving as principal of a new School of Art at Bombay. On December 30, 1865, Alice gave birth to a baby boy in Bombay. He was named Joseph after his grandfather. However, his aunt Louisa Macdonald suggested that the child be named Rudyard, after the place where his grandparents met.[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Childhood in Bombay[/b][br /]
[br /]
Rudyard, grandson of a Methodist was never a Methodist himself. He was christened at St Thomas’s Cathedral. Rudyard Kipling spent his infancy in Bombay – a city at the crest of prosperity. Rudyard’s world then was the garden of a bungalow near the art school. He was very much acquainted to the Indian atmosphere. The baby had a Goan ayah. Meeta, a Hindu bearer was a person other than studio people who influenced Rudyard’s childhood. In an Indian ayah’s care the baby learned to talk in vernacular language with Meeta, and got so very used to it that he needed to be reminded to speak in English when he was with his parents. The ayah took him on early morning walks. She also took him into the chapel of her faith, whereas Meeta did not hesitate to take the little boy to Lord Shiva’s temple. The little boy could not distinguish between these two devotions, but definitely enjoyed the surroundings.[br /]
[br /]
However, when Rudyard was two and a half years old, he was taken home to England.[br /]
[br /]
[b]At ‘Home’[/b][br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings returned to England at Bewdley to the house of Macdonald’s grandparents. Rudyard’s first visit to his actual home, from far East to far West, was a total change and tough for him. It was difficult for him to adjust to the new environment and climate.[br /]
[br /]
This was the first time Rudyard was meeting his grandparents, who found him to be an inquisitive child. Rudyard was very talkative, forward and self-assertive than Victorian children were expected to be. The Kiplings soon shifted from Bewdley. However, the Kiplings could not see Grandfather Macdonald again as he died soon afterwards.[br /]
[br /]
The family moved into (Alice’s brother-in-law) Burne Jonese’s house. It was here on June 11, 1868, that the Kiplings' second child, Alice, known as ‘Trix’, was born.[br /]
[br /]
Soon after, the Kiplings returned to India, and lived an uneventful life in Bombay with occasional visits to a hill-station at Nashik. Rudyard Kipling recalled his childhood memories of India : "I have always felt the menacing darkness of tropical eventide, as I have loved the voices of night-winds through palm or banana leaves, and the song of the tree-frogs."[br /]
[br /]
[b]Southsea – 5 years[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Rudyard was five and half years old, he was sent home for education. On April 15, 1871, the family departed for England. He hazily recollects ‘a time in a ship with an immense semi-circle blocking all vision on each side of her.’[br /]
[br /]
Both Trix and Rudyard were sent in lodgings at Southsea before Lockwood and Alice returned to India. Rudyard, alone at such an unfamiliar place even before his sixth birthday, tried to discover his own self and meaning of separation from his parents. Both the children were left to stay as paying guests in the house of a retired naval officer Mr Harry and his wife Rosa. Rudyard stayed with uncle Harry and aunt Rosa till he was 11 years old. Trix stayed a little longer.[br /]
[br /]
The 5 years there were full of misery. It left some incurable scars. The story collection Baa Baa Black Sheep presented in 1888, painted in variety of colors, depict the events of his childhood. Rudyard actually became the black sheep of the family at Southsea. As long as uncle Harry was alive, the boy got attention and protection. Uncle Harry liked him and taught him sea songs, and introduced him to forocks. But after uncle Harry’s death, the little boy was left to the mercy of aunt Rosa and her son. Rudyard was a restless, clumsy boy who had very little ‘English’ discipline. He was very talkative, sprawled over the sofa, and would ask a lot of questions.[br /]
[br /]
Whenever some guest visited he would parade his knowledge before them. The Anglo-Indian notion of nursery was not liked by aunt Rosa. She was determined to do her duty, of correcting his manners.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard recalls his days at Southsea : "I had never heard of Hell, so I was introduced to it in all its terrors … which led to stealing food. I was regularly beaten." Aunt Rosa’s teenaged son also enjoyed laying his hands on little Rudyard. The poor child had almost accepted the life as it was. Rudyard wrote later, "My ignorance was my salvation." To make him mum and religious he was forced to read without any explanation.[br /]
[br /]
The punishments performed under fear started giving the entertainment needed to keep him away from the day’s hardships. So he started reading whatever came on his way. Soon this punishment turned into a pleasure. When aunt Rosa realized that Rudyard derived pleasure from reading, deprivation to reading was added to his punishment.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Wise Young Man [/b][br /]
[br /]
The five years taught the growing child many lessons. He learnt the truth of life that mind must recognize its own happiness, that any trouble can be endured if the sufferer has resources of his own to sustain it.[br /]
[br /]
The resources, which enabled Rudyard to sustain, were reading and a month in paradise. His paradise was situated at The Grange, North End Road. Every December he stayed for a month with aunt Georgie (his mother sister), wife of Sir Edward Burne Jones. The childhood memories are recalled as, "arriving at the house to reach up to the open-work iron bell-pull on the wonderful gate that let me into all felicity." Pulling that bell gave him such happiness that when he had his own house and The Grange was vacated, he got that bell for his entrance, with the hope that other children might also feel happy to ring it.[br /]
[br /]
He also learnt that family affection was the greatest good in life and the absence of it the greatest evil. The events through which his childhood passed in Southsea had a major impact on his life. Few happenings marked an epoch in Rudyard’s infant mind. When Rudyard’s eyesight weakened the results were seen in his report cards. He recalled it as : "One report was so bad that I threw it away and said that I had never received it. But this is a hard world for the amateur liar. My web of deceit was swiftly exposed – the son spared time after banking–hours to help in the auto – dafe – and I was well-beaten and sent to school through the street of Southsea with the placard ‘Liar’ between my shoulders." Such things drained his real capacity for the rest of his days.[br /]
[br /]
There we met with famous men[br /]
Set in office o’er us;[br /]
And they beat on us with rods –[br /]
Faithfully with many rods,[br /]
For the love they bore us ![br /]
[br /]
Soon, aunt Rosa discovered that the poor results were not because of lethargy but due to the weak eyesight. He started using glasses. For the time being he was not allowed to read, as it would strain his eyes. That was worse than punishment for him. Then, suddenly, without warning his mother arrived from India. His mother’s arrival in March 1877 brought the happiest year in Rudyard’s life. Away from Southsea with Trix and cousin Baldwin at Epping Forest they had a good time running wildly around and riding ponies. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Schooling[/b]
[br /]
[br /]
When Rudyard was 12, he enrolled at the New Public School, the United Services College, founded in 1874. The Kiplings never knew that their dear friend Cormell Price, known to Rudyard as ‘uncle Crom’, would be his teacher. Rudyard had a wonderful time at this school. In his later life, Rudyard’s devotion to the headmaster and school led him to make exaggerated claims for the United Service School as ‘school before its time.’ The college was run in Anglo-Indian tradition. It differed from the rest of mid-Victorian Public school in its secular tone. Price was also not a strict churchman. Rudyard passed through his hands quite untouched by religious enthusiasm, which was seen in many intelligent young men of the 1880s.[br /]
[br /]
Wester wind and open surge[br /]
Took us from our mothers,[br /]
Flung us on a naked shore[br /]
(Twelve black houses by the shore ![br /]
seven summers by the shore !)[br /]
’Mid two hundred brothers.[br /]
[br /]
The place was fancifully named Westward Ho ! because of its position at a little watering place in Bideford Bay. The lodging houses stood in a row, ‘Twelve bleak houses by the shore’, and there were no other properties other than those provided by nature, which made it ‘western wind and open surge’. Initially, he had to face ragging but by that time Rudyard was bigger and stronger and had acquired a new comfort in masculine comradeship. From the very first day he found a friend, a sharp-featured Irish boy named George Beresford. In later years, he appeared in Kipling’s writings as ‘M Turk’.[br /]
[br /]
Beresford wrote School days with Kipling, which describes their days at Westward Ho ! Rudyard, a small boy with a broad smile, and a pair of spectacles, which were regarded very odd in those days. Kipling was rather short for his age of 12 years and not noticeably a muscular person. He sidetracked this physical violence by his tact and friendliness and not by quarrelling with any boy unless he had allies. Rudyard was always noticed for his caution and his habit of ‘getting there’ by diplomatic means.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard was the only boy at the place to wear round thick glasses for long sight, but he always read with naked eyes. Due to the glasses he was nicknamed ‘big-lamps’ or ‘gigger’. Kipling and Beresford passed through a period of ill treatment by a brutal assistant master J C Campbell, the school chaplain. He wrote of him, ‘I can never recall his face without an expression of ferocity on it or his hand without a cane." When Campell left for another appointment Rev C Willies, a comfortable, easy-going, ‘Muscular Christian’ took over. He became a friend of Rudyard and Beresford. As yet, Kipling had not really settled in the new atmosphere. Meanwhile, his father visited him in 1878; he was to supervise an Indian Exhibition at the Paris Exposition. During the summer holidays, he took Rudyard with him. Rudyard ran wild in Paris. His major interest was to see how the things were put together for the exhibition.[br /]
[br /]
At the age of 13, Rudyard knew that he belonged to a totally different world. He found himself at home among the people who wrote or painted or worked in creative field, such as uncle Crom. Rudyard was beyond the normal kids of his age who were content with ‘Jack Harkaway’ and ‘Ned Kelly’ ! (The popular books among children). He seemed to have read all sorts of grown-up books, though he never paraded his knowledge. In 1880, a new phase began in the school as ‘Stalky & Co.’ which were classic tales of boyhood. Kipling came up with the stories, which reflected the local color and characters of the stories belonging to real life. Few such audacious enterprises were ‘Stalky’, ‘M’Turk’, and ‘Beetle’ (the name Kipling affixed to himself). Such books were shocking to a generation accustomed to the evangelical soberness of earlier school stories.[br /]
[br /]
The school was a great institution to Rudyard as it was in immediate relation with the process of adult life. It gave knowledge about how to keep the rules and willingness to accept the consequences, without offering excuses.[br /]
[br /]
Knowing not its uses,[br /]
When they showed, in daily work,[br /]
Man must finish off his work –[br /]
Right or wrong, his daily work –[br /]
And without excuses.[br /]
[br /]
Self-reliance was something more than just accepting the law but also exploring every opportunity to be found in widest limits.[br /]
[br /]
This we learned from famous men,[br /]
Knowing not we learned it,[br /]
Only as the years went by –[br /]
Lonely, as the years went by –[br /]
Far from help as years went by,[br /]
Plainer we discerned it.[br /]
[br /]
At Westward Ho !, Kipling was getting in a wider world with the headmaster taking personal interest in him. Soon, the time arrived for Rudyard to join his family in India. Literature was something what his mind was sure to explore.[br /]
[br /]
[b]In Love[/b][br /]
[br /]
If he wanted to be a literary man, the center was obviously London and not Lahore. His mind had opted so strongly for this field that he once told Beresford that he would cable his father: ‘I have married a girl and therefore I cannot come.’[br /]
[br /]
Something more than love for literature lured him to London. Rudyard at times used to spend holidays with Trix at Southsea. Another paying guest, a girl called Florence Garrad also stayed with aunt Rosa. Rudyard was in love with Flo. Rudyard idolized her very much. It is not known how often they met, but before leaving for India, he thought that she was almost engaged to him. Spending his last summer holiday with Macdonald cousin he boarded for India.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Lahore[/b][br /]
[br /]
With the memories of his sweetheart, Rudyard reached Bombay, his birthplace on October 18, 1882. To revisit the place where he had passed his childhood days, he felt like entering his kingdom.[br /]
[br /]
Lockwood was still the principal of the Mayo School of Art and also a curator at Lahore Museum. About 70 British residents lived in the Civil Lines. Kipling, who is known for extracting things from nature and surrounding, described the Museum in the first chapter of Kim. Near the city was the printing office of the Civil and Military Gazette, the provincial newspaper in which Rudyard later became the assistant editor.[br /]
[br /]
In November, he commenced the work as an assistant editor and on Christmas eve, a week before his 17th birthday, he was in charge of the editing as Stephen Wheeler, the editor, was in bed after an accident. This was the stepping stone. He soon joined the Pioneer, which unlike Civil and Military Gazette, became a national paper. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Loneliness[/b][br /]
[br /]
In 1883, the re-discovery of India absorbed Kipling completely. Same year, Alice visited England. Rudyard decided to spend a month in Simla, but he could not escape his solitariness. For the first time he knew loneliness and found it unbearable. After putting the newspaper to bed by midnight he found himself alone in the Walled City, penetrating into courts and watching for the dawn, which might bring a breath of fresh air.[br /]
[br /]
Those days, a theme was running in his mind, uniting loneliness, fever and a sleeping city; it was James Thomson’s City of Dreadful Night, which was one of his favorite poems.[br /]
[br /]
The street-lamp burn amidst the baleful glooms,[br /]
Amidst the soundless solitudes immense[br /]
Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.[br /]
The silence which benumbs or strain the sense.[br /]
Fulfils with awe the soul’s despair unweeping;[br /]
Myriads of habitants are ever sleeping,[br /]
Or dead, or fled from nameless pestilence ![br /]
[br /]
His loneliness started taking shape on paper. He started a friendly correspondence with Mr Crofts, (Kipling’s most celebrated schoolmaster, ‘Mr King’ was a character inspired from him) sending him copies of all verses, which revealed his dull routine. Crofts preserved those letters and this became the first collection of Kipling’s early work. [br /]
[br /]
[b]1884 - 1887[/b][br /]
[br /]
The next four years was a satisfying period in Kipling’s life. Kipling's mother and Trix returned to Lahore. He was now with his family, the greatest good in his life. The family square made the only audience he cared to please. They knew he had another love and it is hard to say how deeply he was wounded by the separation with Flo. The relationship ended when Flo, after 18 months, wrote to nullify their engagement. Rudyard upset by it commented in a verse –[br /]
[br /]
One brought her Fire from a distant place, [br /]
And She – what should she know of it ?[br /]
Sudden she crushed the embers’ neath her heel [br /]
And all light went Her.[br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings also had much time together at Simla. Kipling had penned down many short stories during this time.[br /]
[br /]
The friends of the Civil and Military Gazette were persuaded to issue the stories written by Rudyard in annual Christmas edition. These stories were, The Phantom Rickshaw and The strange Rids of Morrowbie Jukes.[br /]
[br /]
When Kipling was 21, he was quite a known figure for the stories and verses he wrote. The year 1886-87 had much more to present him. Stephen Wheeler was going home and Kay Robinsion replaced him as the editor of the Civil and Military Gazette. Kay and Kipling brought sparkle to the newspaper. The best work of Kipling over here was Plain Tales from the Hills, which is still in print. It dealt with military subjects in India.[br /]
[br /]
Kay enjoyed with his new assistant Kipling. ‘He had the buoyancy of a cork, he was bubbling over with poetry’. Said Kay, "If you want to find a man who will cheerfully do the work of three men, you must catch a young genius."[br /]
[br /]
The time had come for Kipling to present a volume of collected verses in a popular Anglo–Indian style. The verses were first presented under the title of Bungalow Ballads and then were reissued under a better title of Departmental Ditties. This work was a success as the critics compared them with Bret Harte’s poems. Some verses were no more than family jokes. This piece describes the envy of a young girl for an older woman.[br /]
[br /]
The young men come, the young men go,[br /]
Each pink and white and neat,[br /]
She’s older than their mothers, but[br /]
They grovel at Her feet.[br /]
They walk beside her rickshaw-wheels –[br /]
None ever walk by mine;[br /]
And that’s because I’m seventeen[br /]
And she is forty-nine.[br /]
[br /]
It can hardly be a coincidence as this verse came when Trix was 17 and Alice was 49.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Allahabad[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s works, especially the Plain Tales from the Hills, a collection of 40 stories, commanded good reputation and fame. George Allen, the publisher of Pioneer at Allahabad had decided to bring this fledged genius to Pioneer and in mid-1887, Kipling went to Allahabad to join the Pioneer. His Simla patron Edward Buck had introduced him to Prof S A Hill, who had been recently posted at Allahabad. His wife, Edmonia Hill (known as Ted) was a lively young American lady. Kipling was acquainted with Mrs Hill in a very short time.[br /]
[br /]
Early in 1888, he made a trip down the country to Benares and Calcutta, the British-Indian capital. His new duties at Allahabad required him to travel extensively. Soon, Kipling was acquainted with different Hindu groups, their customs and institutions, and with special features of English military life in India.[br /]
[br /]
This firm grasp of Indian culture was abundantly reflected in Kipling’s writing. It has been said that these writings had brought India nearer home to English rather than construction of the Suez Canal.[br /]
[br /]
The visits to these places were reflected in various works to come like From Sea to Sea, The Light that Failed, The Naulahka. The visit to the abandoned city Amber was of much advantage, as in Jungle Books it reappeared as the ‘Cold lairs’.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Booming Life[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s stories in the Pioneer were then published in a paperback form. Six volumes of Kipling’s new stories were issued before the end of the year 1888. These little books were carried by travelers and tourists all over the world even to New York and London which brought fame to Kipling. This work included the volumes like Soldiers Three – the volume which included stories on military life, The Drums of the Fore and Aft which had Wee Willie Winkies and Baa Baa Black Sheep that established Kipling as a writer on child life. The Man who would be king, is regarded as Kipling’s masterpiece.[br /]
[br /]
His other work, which deserves a mention is The Story of the Gadsby, a short sentimental novel of considerable daring in 1888. In Black and White, A wayside comedy were also of great notice, which appeared in the volume Under the Deodars (1889), all of which were related with the society life in Simla.[br /]
[br /]
At Allahabad, Kipling lived a bachelor’s life doing his work and writing for the Pioneer. He used to visit Mrs Hill and discuss his work and other things, which he enjoyed in her company. Kipling stayed there for a month as a guest. Soon his hosts returned to Mussorie, a hill station. Rudyard used to write a letter almost everyday to Mrs Hill. It seemed that he was fond of Mrs Hill.[br /]
[br /]
The cool weather of Mussorie made Mrs Hills ill. When she recovered, she decided to spend her recovering at her home in America. Soon, an idea shaped up in Kipling’s mind to travel to England and visit her at Pennsylvania. Fate dealt the cards as George Allen too encouraged him to go and asked him to prepare a travel sketch for the Pioneer.[br /]
[br /]
In February 1889, Rudyard went to Lahore to say farewell to his family. Then he set off for his globetrotting with enthusiasm. He was like a schoolboy on his vacation, with liberty, money and a sense of pride in his seven year’s of apprenticeship.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
If you can keep your head when all about you[br /]
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you[br /]
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you[br /]
But make allowances for their doubling too[br /]
[br /]
John Lockwood Kipling and his wife Alice came to India. John was serving as principal of a new School of Art at Bombay. On December 30, 1865, Alice gave birth to a baby boy in Bombay. He was named Joseph after his grandfather. However, his aunt Louisa Macdonald suggested that the child be named Rudyard, after the place where his grandparents met.[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Childhood in Bombay[/b][br /]
[br /]
Rudyard, grandson of a Methodist was never a Methodist himself. He was christened at St Thomas’s Cathedral. Rudyard Kipling spent his infancy in Bombay – a city at the crest of prosperity. Rudyard’s world then was the garden of a bungalow near the art school. He was very much acquainted to the Indian atmosphere. The baby had a Goan ayah. Meeta, a Hindu bearer was a person other than studio people who influenced Rudyard’s childhood. In an Indian ayah’s care the baby learned to talk in vernacular language with Meeta, and got so very used to it that he needed to be reminded to speak in English when he was with his parents. The ayah took him on early morning walks. She also took him into the chapel of her faith, whereas Meeta did not hesitate to take the little boy to Lord Shiva’s temple. The little boy could not distinguish between these two devotions, but definitely enjoyed the surroundings.[br /]
[br /]
However, when Rudyard was two and a half years old, he was taken home to England.[br /]
[br /]
[b]At ‘Home’[/b][br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings returned to England at Bewdley to the house of Macdonald’s grandparents. Rudyard’s first visit to his actual home, from far East to far West, was a total change and tough for him. It was difficult for him to adjust to the new environment and climate.[br /]
[br /]
This was the first time Rudyard was meeting his grandparents, who found him to be an inquisitive child. Rudyard was very talkative, forward and self-assertive than Victorian children were expected to be. The Kiplings soon shifted from Bewdley. However, the Kiplings could not see Grandfather Macdonald again as he died soon afterwards.[br /]
[br /]
The family moved into (Alice’s brother-in-law) Burne Jonese’s house. It was here on June 11, 1868, that the Kiplings' second child, Alice, known as ‘Trix’, was born.[br /]
[br /]
Soon after, the Kiplings returned to India, and lived an uneventful life in Bombay with occasional visits to a hill-station at Nashik. Rudyard Kipling recalled his childhood memories of India : "I have always felt the menacing darkness of tropical eventide, as I have loved the voices of night-winds through palm or banana leaves, and the song of the tree-frogs."[br /]
[br /]
[b]Southsea – 5 years[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Rudyard was five and half years old, he was sent home for education. On April 15, 1871, the family departed for England. He hazily recollects ‘a time in a ship with an immense semi-circle blocking all vision on each side of her.’[br /]
[br /]
Both Trix and Rudyard were sent in lodgings at Southsea before Lockwood and Alice returned to India. Rudyard, alone at such an unfamiliar place even before his sixth birthday, tried to discover his own self and meaning of separation from his parents. Both the children were left to stay as paying guests in the house of a retired naval officer Mr Harry and his wife Rosa. Rudyard stayed with uncle Harry and aunt Rosa till he was 11 years old. Trix stayed a little longer.[br /]
[br /]
The 5 years there were full of misery. It left some incurable scars. The story collection Baa Baa Black Sheep presented in 1888, painted in variety of colors, depict the events of his childhood. Rudyard actually became the black sheep of the family at Southsea. As long as uncle Harry was alive, the boy got attention and protection. Uncle Harry liked him and taught him sea songs, and introduced him to forocks. But after uncle Harry’s death, the little boy was left to the mercy of aunt Rosa and her son. Rudyard was a restless, clumsy boy who had very little ‘English’ discipline. He was very talkative, sprawled over the sofa, and would ask a lot of questions.[br /]
[br /]
Whenever some guest visited he would parade his knowledge before them. The Anglo-Indian notion of nursery was not liked by aunt Rosa. She was determined to do her duty, of correcting his manners.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard recalls his days at Southsea : "I had never heard of Hell, so I was introduced to it in all its terrors … which led to stealing food. I was regularly beaten." Aunt Rosa’s teenaged son also enjoyed laying his hands on little Rudyard. The poor child had almost accepted the life as it was. Rudyard wrote later, "My ignorance was my salvation." To make him mum and religious he was forced to read without any explanation.[br /]
[br /]
The punishments performed under fear started giving the entertainment needed to keep him away from the day’s hardships. So he started reading whatever came on his way. Soon this punishment turned into a pleasure. When aunt Rosa realized that Rudyard derived pleasure from reading, deprivation to reading was added to his punishment.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Wise Young Man [/b][br /]
[br /]
The five years taught the growing child many lessons. He learnt the truth of life that mind must recognize its own happiness, that any trouble can be endured if the sufferer has resources of his own to sustain it.[br /]
[br /]
The resources, which enabled Rudyard to sustain, were reading and a month in paradise. His paradise was situated at The Grange, North End Road. Every December he stayed for a month with aunt Georgie (his mother sister), wife of Sir Edward Burne Jones. The childhood memories are recalled as, "arriving at the house to reach up to the open-work iron bell-pull on the wonderful gate that let me into all felicity." Pulling that bell gave him such happiness that when he had his own house and The Grange was vacated, he got that bell for his entrance, with the hope that other children might also feel happy to ring it.[br /]
[br /]
He also learnt that family affection was the greatest good in life and the absence of it the greatest evil. The events through which his childhood passed in Southsea had a major impact on his life. Few happenings marked an epoch in Rudyard’s infant mind. When Rudyard’s eyesight weakened the results were seen in his report cards. He recalled it as : "One report was so bad that I threw it away and said that I had never received it. But this is a hard world for the amateur liar. My web of deceit was swiftly exposed – the son spared time after banking–hours to help in the auto – dafe – and I was well-beaten and sent to school through the street of Southsea with the placard ‘Liar’ between my shoulders." Such things drained his real capacity for the rest of his days.[br /]
[br /]
There we met with famous men[br /]
Set in office o’er us;[br /]
And they beat on us with rods –[br /]
Faithfully with many rods,[br /]
For the love they bore us ![br /]
[br /]
Soon, aunt Rosa discovered that the poor results were not because of lethargy but due to the weak eyesight. He started using glasses. For the time being he was not allowed to read, as it would strain his eyes. That was worse than punishment for him. Then, suddenly, without warning his mother arrived from India. His mother’s arrival in March 1877 brought the happiest year in Rudyard’s life. Away from Southsea with Trix and cousin Baldwin at Epping Forest they had a good time running wildly around and riding ponies. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Schooling[/b]
[br /]
[br /]
When Rudyard was 12, he enrolled at the New Public School, the United Services College, founded in 1874. The Kiplings never knew that their dear friend Cormell Price, known to Rudyard as ‘uncle Crom’, would be his teacher. Rudyard had a wonderful time at this school. In his later life, Rudyard’s devotion to the headmaster and school led him to make exaggerated claims for the United Service School as ‘school before its time.’ The college was run in Anglo-Indian tradition. It differed from the rest of mid-Victorian Public school in its secular tone. Price was also not a strict churchman. Rudyard passed through his hands quite untouched by religious enthusiasm, which was seen in many intelligent young men of the 1880s.[br /]
[br /]
Wester wind and open surge[br /]
Took us from our mothers,[br /]
Flung us on a naked shore[br /]
(Twelve black houses by the shore ![br /]
seven summers by the shore !)[br /]
’Mid two hundred brothers.[br /]
[br /]
The place was fancifully named Westward Ho ! because of its position at a little watering place in Bideford Bay. The lodging houses stood in a row, ‘Twelve bleak houses by the shore’, and there were no other properties other than those provided by nature, which made it ‘western wind and open surge’. Initially, he had to face ragging but by that time Rudyard was bigger and stronger and had acquired a new comfort in masculine comradeship. From the very first day he found a friend, a sharp-featured Irish boy named George Beresford. In later years, he appeared in Kipling’s writings as ‘M Turk’.[br /]
[br /]
Beresford wrote School days with Kipling, which describes their days at Westward Ho ! Rudyard, a small boy with a broad smile, and a pair of spectacles, which were regarded very odd in those days. Kipling was rather short for his age of 12 years and not noticeably a muscular person. He sidetracked this physical violence by his tact and friendliness and not by quarrelling with any boy unless he had allies. Rudyard was always noticed for his caution and his habit of ‘getting there’ by diplomatic means.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard was the only boy at the place to wear round thick glasses for long sight, but he always read with naked eyes. Due to the glasses he was nicknamed ‘big-lamps’ or ‘gigger’. Kipling and Beresford passed through a period of ill treatment by a brutal assistant master J C Campbell, the school chaplain. He wrote of him, ‘I can never recall his face without an expression of ferocity on it or his hand without a cane." When Campell left for another appointment Rev C Willies, a comfortable, easy-going, ‘Muscular Christian’ took over. He became a friend of Rudyard and Beresford. As yet, Kipling had not really settled in the new atmosphere. Meanwhile, his father visited him in 1878; he was to supervise an Indian Exhibition at the Paris Exposition. During the summer holidays, he took Rudyard with him. Rudyard ran wild in Paris. His major interest was to see how the things were put together for the exhibition.[br /]
[br /]
At the age of 13, Rudyard knew that he belonged to a totally different world. He found himself at home among the people who wrote or painted or worked in creative field, such as uncle Crom. Rudyard was beyond the normal kids of his age who were content with ‘Jack Harkaway’ and ‘Ned Kelly’ ! (The popular books among children). He seemed to have read all sorts of grown-up books, though he never paraded his knowledge. In 1880, a new phase began in the school as ‘Stalky & Co.’ which were classic tales of boyhood. Kipling came up with the stories, which reflected the local color and characters of the stories belonging to real life. Few such audacious enterprises were ‘Stalky’, ‘M’Turk’, and ‘Beetle’ (the name Kipling affixed to himself). Such books were shocking to a generation accustomed to the evangelical soberness of earlier school stories.[br /]
[br /]
The school was a great institution to Rudyard as it was in immediate relation with the process of adult life. It gave knowledge about how to keep the rules and willingness to accept the consequences, without offering excuses.[br /]
[br /]
Knowing not its uses,[br /]
When they showed, in daily work,[br /]
Man must finish off his work –[br /]
Right or wrong, his daily work –[br /]
And without excuses.[br /]
[br /]
Self-reliance was something more than just accepting the law but also exploring every opportunity to be found in widest limits.[br /]
[br /]
This we learned from famous men,[br /]
Knowing not we learned it,[br /]
Only as the years went by –[br /]
Lonely, as the years went by –[br /]
Far from help as years went by,[br /]
Plainer we discerned it.[br /]
[br /]
At Westward Ho !, Kipling was getting in a wider world with the headmaster taking personal interest in him. Soon, the time arrived for Rudyard to join his family in India. Literature was something what his mind was sure to explore.[br /]
[br /]
[b]In Love[/b][br /]
[br /]
If he wanted to be a literary man, the center was obviously London and not Lahore. His mind had opted so strongly for this field that he once told Beresford that he would cable his father: ‘I have married a girl and therefore I cannot come.’[br /]
[br /]
Something more than love for literature lured him to London. Rudyard at times used to spend holidays with Trix at Southsea. Another paying guest, a girl called Florence Garrad also stayed with aunt Rosa. Rudyard was in love with Flo. Rudyard idolized her very much. It is not known how often they met, but before leaving for India, he thought that she was almost engaged to him. Spending his last summer holiday with Macdonald cousin he boarded for India.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Lahore[/b][br /]
[br /]
With the memories of his sweetheart, Rudyard reached Bombay, his birthplace on October 18, 1882. To revisit the place where he had passed his childhood days, he felt like entering his kingdom.[br /]
[br /]
Lockwood was still the principal of the Mayo School of Art and also a curator at Lahore Museum. About 70 British residents lived in the Civil Lines. Kipling, who is known for extracting things from nature and surrounding, described the Museum in the first chapter of Kim. Near the city was the printing office of the Civil and Military Gazette, the provincial newspaper in which Rudyard later became the assistant editor.[br /]
[br /]
In November, he commenced the work as an assistant editor and on Christmas eve, a week before his 17th birthday, he was in charge of the editing as Stephen Wheeler, the editor, was in bed after an accident. This was the stepping stone. He soon joined the Pioneer, which unlike Civil and Military Gazette, became a national paper. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Loneliness[/b][br /]
[br /]
In 1883, the re-discovery of India absorbed Kipling completely. Same year, Alice visited England. Rudyard decided to spend a month in Simla, but he could not escape his solitariness. For the first time he knew loneliness and found it unbearable. After putting the newspaper to bed by midnight he found himself alone in the Walled City, penetrating into courts and watching for the dawn, which might bring a breath of fresh air.[br /]
[br /]
Those days, a theme was running in his mind, uniting loneliness, fever and a sleeping city; it was James Thomson’s City of Dreadful Night, which was one of his favorite poems.[br /]
[br /]
The street-lamp burn amidst the baleful glooms,[br /]
Amidst the soundless solitudes immense[br /]
Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.[br /]
The silence which benumbs or strain the sense.[br /]
Fulfils with awe the soul’s despair unweeping;[br /]
Myriads of habitants are ever sleeping,[br /]
Or dead, or fled from nameless pestilence ![br /]
[br /]
His loneliness started taking shape on paper. He started a friendly correspondence with Mr Crofts, (Kipling’s most celebrated schoolmaster, ‘Mr King’ was a character inspired from him) sending him copies of all verses, which revealed his dull routine. Crofts preserved those letters and this became the first collection of Kipling’s early work. [br /]
[br /]
[b]1884 - 1887[/b][br /]
[br /]
The next four years was a satisfying period in Kipling’s life. Kipling's mother and Trix returned to Lahore. He was now with his family, the greatest good in his life. The family square made the only audience he cared to please. They knew he had another love and it is hard to say how deeply he was wounded by the separation with Flo. The relationship ended when Flo, after 18 months, wrote to nullify their engagement. Rudyard upset by it commented in a verse –[br /]
[br /]
One brought her Fire from a distant place, [br /]
And She – what should she know of it ?[br /]
Sudden she crushed the embers’ neath her heel [br /]
And all light went Her.[br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings also had much time together at Simla. Kipling had penned down many short stories during this time.[br /]
[br /]
The friends of the Civil and Military Gazette were persuaded to issue the stories written by Rudyard in annual Christmas edition. These stories were, The Phantom Rickshaw and The strange Rids of Morrowbie Jukes.[br /]
[br /]
When Kipling was 21, he was quite a known figure for the stories and verses he wrote. The year 1886-87 had much more to present him. Stephen Wheeler was going home and Kay Robinsion replaced him as the editor of the Civil and Military Gazette. Kay and Kipling brought sparkle to the newspaper. The best work of Kipling over here was Plain Tales from the Hills, which is still in print. It dealt with military subjects in India.[br /]
[br /]
Kay enjoyed with his new assistant Kipling. ‘He had the buoyancy of a cork, he was bubbling over with poetry’. Said Kay, "If you want to find a man who will cheerfully do the work of three men, you must catch a young genius."[br /]
[br /]
The time had come for Kipling to present a volume of collected verses in a popular Anglo–Indian style. The verses were first presented under the title of Bungalow Ballads and then were reissued under a better title of Departmental Ditties. This work was a success as the critics compared them with Bret Harte’s poems. Some verses were no more than family jokes. This piece describes the envy of a young girl for an older woman.[br /]
[br /]
The young men come, the young men go,[br /]
Each pink and white and neat,[br /]
She’s older than their mothers, but[br /]
They grovel at Her feet.[br /]
They walk beside her rickshaw-wheels –[br /]
None ever walk by mine;[br /]
And that’s because I’m seventeen[br /]
And she is forty-nine.[br /]
[br /]
It can hardly be a coincidence as this verse came when Trix was 17 and Alice was 49.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Allahabad[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s works, especially the Plain Tales from the Hills, a collection of 40 stories, commanded good reputation and fame. George Allen, the publisher of Pioneer at Allahabad had decided to bring this fledged genius to Pioneer and in mid-1887, Kipling went to Allahabad to join the Pioneer. His Simla patron Edward Buck had introduced him to Prof S A Hill, who had been recently posted at Allahabad. His wife, Edmonia Hill (known as Ted) was a lively young American lady. Kipling was acquainted with Mrs Hill in a very short time.[br /]
[br /]
Early in 1888, he made a trip down the country to Benares and Calcutta, the British-Indian capital. His new duties at Allahabad required him to travel extensively. Soon, Kipling was acquainted with different Hindu groups, their customs and institutions, and with special features of English military life in India.[br /]
[br /]
This firm grasp of Indian culture was abundantly reflected in Kipling’s writing. It has been said that these writings had brought India nearer home to English rather than construction of the Suez Canal.[br /]
[br /]
The visits to these places were reflected in various works to come like From Sea to Sea, The Light that Failed, The Naulahka. The visit to the abandoned city Amber was of much advantage, as in Jungle Books it reappeared as the ‘Cold lairs’.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Booming Life[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s stories in the Pioneer were then published in a paperback form. Six volumes of Kipling’s new stories were issued before the end of the year 1888. These little books were carried by travelers and tourists all over the world even to New York and London which brought fame to Kipling. This work included the volumes like Soldiers Three – the volume which included stories on military life, The Drums of the Fore and Aft which had Wee Willie Winkies and Baa Baa Black Sheep that established Kipling as a writer on child life. The Man who would be king, is regarded as Kipling’s masterpiece.[br /]
[br /]
His other work, which deserves a mention is The Story of the Gadsby, a short sentimental novel of considerable daring in 1888. In Black and White, A wayside comedy were also of great notice, which appeared in the volume Under the Deodars (1889), all of which were related with the society life in Simla.[br /]
[br /]
At Allahabad, Kipling lived a bachelor’s life doing his work and writing for the Pioneer. He used to visit Mrs Hill and discuss his work and other things, which he enjoyed in her company. Kipling stayed there for a month as a guest. Soon his hosts returned to Mussorie, a hill station. Rudyard used to write a letter almost everyday to Mrs Hill. It seemed that he was fond of Mrs Hill.[br /]
[br /]
The cool weather of Mussorie made Mrs Hills ill. When she recovered, she decided to spend her recovering at her home in America. Soon, an idea shaped up in Kipling’s mind to travel to England and visit her at Pennsylvania. Fate dealt the cards as George Allen too encouraged him to go and asked him to prepare a travel sketch for the Pioneer.[br /]
[br /]
In February 1889, Rudyard went to Lahore to say farewell to his family. Then he set off for his globetrotting with enthusiasm. He was like a schoolboy on his vacation, with liberty, money and a sense of pride in his seven year’s of apprenticeship.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard Kipling, the poet of all times, speaks about the involvement and evolution of life. He visualizes the mankind in few stanzas, which reflect the aim and conclusion of every being.[br /]
[br /]
The master’s work was concerned with what was being done rather than what was being said – or thought – in the modern world. His greatest poems looked at the end of an epoch and not to a utopian future. He was rightly called the Recessional; his message to his generation was to take up the white man’s burden.[br /]
[br /]
Thou knowest who hast made the fire,[br /]
Thou knowest who hast made the clay,[br /]
[br /]
Compounded by two elements – fire and clay – he reveals a part of his soul, which reflects man’s surroundings. Take The Jungle Books and Kim for instance – both reflect the conflicts that every person passes through at some point of time.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard Kipling, with his immortal classics, helps and encourages many. Even today, his life and work inspire us to be ourselves and believe in the Divine Law.[br /]
[br /]
If there be good in that I wrought[br /]
Thy Hand compelled it, Master, Thine –[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard had always followed the Divine Law. He said : "I expect that every man has to work out his creed according to his own wavelength and the hope is that the Great Receiving Station is tuned to take all the wavelengths."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
The master’s work was concerned with what was being done rather than what was being said – or thought – in the modern world. His greatest poems looked at the end of an epoch and not to a utopian future. He was rightly called the Recessional; his message to his generation was to take up the white man’s burden.[br /]
[br /]
Thou knowest who hast made the fire,[br /]
Thou knowest who hast made the clay,[br /]
[br /]
Compounded by two elements – fire and clay – he reveals a part of his soul, which reflects man’s surroundings. Take The Jungle Books and Kim for instance – both reflect the conflicts that every person passes through at some point of time.[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard Kipling, with his immortal classics, helps and encourages many. Even today, his life and work inspire us to be ourselves and believe in the Divine Law.[br /]
[br /]
If there be good in that I wrought[br /]
Thy Hand compelled it, Master, Thine –[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard had always followed the Divine Law. He said : "I expect that every man has to work out his creed according to his own wavelength and the hope is that the Great Receiving Station is tuned to take all the wavelengths."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]December 30, 1865[/b] Rudyard Kipling was born at Bombay, India.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1871-77[/b] Years spent at Southsea[br /]
[br /]
[b]1878-82[/b] Years spent at Westward Ho ![br /]
[br /]
[b]1882[/b] Returned to India and joined the Civil and Military Gazette at Lahore.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1886[/b] Wrote Departmental Ditties.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1887-89[/b] Was on the Staff of the Pioneer, Allahabad.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888[/b] Wrote Plain Tales from the Hills, Stories for Indian Railway Library.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1889[/b] Returned to London via the USA.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1890[/b] Got success in London. [br /]
Wrote The Light that failed[br /]
[br /]
[b]1891[/b] Took sea voyage – His last visit to India[br /]
[br /]
[b]January 18, 1892[/b] Married Caroline Balestier. [br /]
Wrote The Naulakha, Barrack-Room Ballads.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1894-95[/b] Wrote The Jungle Books[br /]
[br /]
[b]1896[/b] Wrote The Seven Seas[br /]
[br /]
[b]1897[/b] At Rottingdean. [br /]
Recessional[br /]
[br /]
[b]1899[/b] Wrote The White Man’s Burden. Last visit to the USA.[br /]
Death of Rudyard Kipling’s daughter.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901[/b] Kim appeared.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1902[/b] House at ‘Bateman’s’, Burwash, Sussek.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1903[/b] Wrote The Five Nations[br /]
[br /]
[b]1904[/b] Wrote Traffics and Discoveries[br /]
[br /]
[b]1906[/b] Wrote Puck of Pook’s Hill[br /]
[br /]
[b]1907[/b] Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Voyage to Canada.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1910[/b] Published Rewards and Fairies[br /]
[br /]
[b]1913[/b] Made a voyage to Egypt[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915[/b] Kipling’s son was believed to be killed in France.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1917[/b] Wrote A Diversity of Creature.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923[/b] Wrote The Irish Guards in the Great War.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1924[/b] Kipling’s younger daughter’s marriage.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1926[/b] Wrote Debits and Credits[br /]
[br /]
[b]1927[/b] Wrote Sketches of Brazil. traveled to Brazil[br /]
[br /]
[b]1930[/b] Wrote Thy Servant a Dog. Voyage to the West Indies.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932[/b] Wrote Limits and Renewals[br /]
[br /]
[b]Jan 18, 1936[/b]
Rudyard Kipling died and was buried in Poet’s corner in Westminster Abbey.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]1871-77[/b] Years spent at Southsea[br /]
[br /]
[b]1878-82[/b] Years spent at Westward Ho ![br /]
[br /]
[b]1882[/b] Returned to India and joined the Civil and Military Gazette at Lahore.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1886[/b] Wrote Departmental Ditties.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1887-89[/b] Was on the Staff of the Pioneer, Allahabad.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888[/b] Wrote Plain Tales from the Hills, Stories for Indian Railway Library.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1889[/b] Returned to London via the USA.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1890[/b] Got success in London. [br /]
Wrote The Light that failed[br /]
[br /]
[b]1891[/b] Took sea voyage – His last visit to India[br /]
[br /]
[b]January 18, 1892[/b] Married Caroline Balestier. [br /]
Wrote The Naulakha, Barrack-Room Ballads.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1894-95[/b] Wrote The Jungle Books[br /]
[br /]
[b]1896[/b] Wrote The Seven Seas[br /]
[br /]
[b]1897[/b] At Rottingdean. [br /]
Recessional[br /]
[br /]
[b]1899[/b] Wrote The White Man’s Burden. Last visit to the USA.[br /]
Death of Rudyard Kipling’s daughter.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901[/b] Kim appeared.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1902[/b] House at ‘Bateman’s’, Burwash, Sussek.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1903[/b] Wrote The Five Nations[br /]
[br /]
[b]1904[/b] Wrote Traffics and Discoveries[br /]
[br /]
[b]1906[/b] Wrote Puck of Pook’s Hill[br /]
[br /]
[b]1907[/b] Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Voyage to Canada.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1910[/b] Published Rewards and Fairies[br /]
[br /]
[b]1913[/b] Made a voyage to Egypt[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915[/b] Kipling’s son was believed to be killed in France.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1917[/b] Wrote A Diversity of Creature.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923[/b] Wrote The Irish Guards in the Great War.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1924[/b] Kipling’s younger daughter’s marriage.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1926[/b] Wrote Debits and Credits[br /]
[br /]
[b]1927[/b] Wrote Sketches of Brazil. traveled to Brazil[br /]
[br /]
[b]1930[/b] Wrote Thy Servant a Dog. Voyage to the West Indies.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932[/b] Wrote Limits and Renewals[br /]
[br /]
[b]Jan 18, 1936[/b]
Rudyard Kipling died and was buried in Poet’s corner in Westminster Abbey.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Towards America[/b][br /]
[br /]
Rudyard started his trip on March 9, 1889 and visited Rangoon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Yokohama, finally sailing off by City of Peking on a 20-day voyage across the stormy North Pacific to reach America.[br /]
[br /]
A man with English temperament found America a strange place. Kipling did not appreciate Americans and their policies, lawlessness and custom of carrying pistols in their pockets. Kipling delivered many shallow comments : "The American does not drink at meals as a sensible man should. Indeed he has no meals. He stuffs for ten minutes thrice a day. He pours his variety into himself at unholy hours. Most of the men wore frock coats and top hats – but they all spat. They spat on principle."[br /]
[br /]
In spite of all this, he did enjoy his stay at San Francisco and made many friends. He visited many places in USA including Portland, Oregon, Columbia River, Tacoma and Montana.
[br /]
[br /]
He reached to the eastern states where he became something more than a globetrotter. He had nearly a two-month stay at Beaver, in the house of Mrs Hill’s parents. Mrs Hill had a younger sister called Caroline Taylor. She was a cheerful, plump, young girl. Kipling enjoyed his stay over there in Caroline’s company.[br /]
[br /]
He went off to Buffalo, to see the fall and also visited Washington. At Boston, a historic association took place. He met Mark Twain at Elmira. Twain received him with courtesy and gave him a ‘copy’ of an interview, which was reprinted in uncountable American papers.[br /]
[br /]
Soon Kipling’s holidays were over and his money was spent, and so he went to New York in September and seriously set himself to work. Much of his work remained unpublished in New York. And it was time to move back to London. Mrs Hills was returning to India with her sister and cousin. Kipling accompanied them up to London.
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Return to London[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was back in London after seven long years of very good experience. Rudyard was a man who traveled all around the world. He knew two worlds, East and West. His fame preceded him at England. Though they noticed him, it was more out of curiosity rather than for comradeship. His earliest introductions in London were through two journalists, Mowbray Morris (who had been an Art Editor of the Pioneer) and Stephen Wheeler. In November 1889, Morris accepted his first two long ballads. It was typical of Kipling that he started his new career by new name.[br /]
[br /]
His poems appeared in Macmillan’s under the name of ‘Yussuf’. One of those two earlier poems, The Ballad of East and West, raised its author into the first rank of contemporary writers.[br /]
[br /]
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the Twain shall meet,[br /]
Till Earth and sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment seat;[br /]
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, [br /]
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth ![br /]
[br /]
Aged Tennyson at Farringford told a friend that young Kipling was ‘the only one of them with divine fire’.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling had got success with editors and publishers but was still lonely in London. Through letters, he kept in touch with Mrs Hill. He also wrote to Caroline Taylor, whom he had known only for a few weeks. These letters were beyond doubt love-letters. One letter to Caroline goes this way : ‘Heart o’ mine, you as well as I, must have discovered by this time that the writing of love letters is no easy thing. I own that I laughed, disrespectfully at the delicious one you sent off by the pilot – happy man was he’. Such words must have come from an affectionate heart.[br /]
[br /]
Miss Taylor’s father was a clergyman and it is likely that Kipling’s unorthodoxy was the reason why the affair came to nothing.[br /]
[br /]
The genius was back to work, and started composing again. He wrote Truthful James at Savile Club as a critical allusion to Cleopatra just published by Rider Haggard, a well-known publisher. Edmund Goose, a friend, introduced him to a young American literary man named Wolcott Balestier, a journalist.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Days in London[/b][br /]
[br /]
In the fell clutch of circumstance[br /]
I have not winced nor cried aloud,[br /]
Under the bludgeonings of chance[br /]
My head is bloody but unbowed.[br /]
[br /]
This poem by William Ernest Henley was enjoyed and stored by young Kipling in Lahore. Henley was the man who started Scot Observer. He knew everyone from Oscar Wilde to George Bernard Shaw and every one liked him.
[br /]
[br /]
He hunted for newcomers, and Yeats, Barrie, as well as Kipling were among his early discoveries. Kipling could hardly be said to have graduated in the world of letters without coming into Henley’s orbit. Henley was awaiting Kipling’s return from India with interest. The first approach was from Kipling. On February 1, 1890, the Scot Observer published a piece from Kipling’s pen.[br /]
[br /]
Love and Death once ceased then Strife[br /]
At the Tavern of Man’s Life.[br /]
Called for wine, and threw – alas ! –[br /]
Each his quiver on the grass.[br /]
[br /]
The first of these, Danny Deever, appeared in the Scot Observer and astonished the critics. They say, it made Henley stand up and dance on his wooden leg, while Professor Masson, the grave commentator on Milton, waved the paper before his students, crying : ‘Here’s Literature ! Here’s Literature, at last !’[br /]
[br /]
This was just the starting, his works were to command him a place at ‘poet’s corner’. Bell and Stephen (his friends at Savile Club) asked Kipling at Embankment Chambers whether he had anything on hand. Kipling gave some political verses, which he supposed, had missed their market and were out of date. They were seventy lines of bitter invective against the Liberal party, showing its association with Irish Nationalists as revealed by the Parnell Commission. It was the sensation of the month.[br /]
[br /]
Hold up those hands of innocence – go, scare your sheep together.[br /]
The blundering, tripping tups that bleat behind the old bell-wether;[br /]
My soul ! I’d sooner lie in jail for murder plan and straight,[br /]
Pure crime I’d done with my own hand for money, lust or hate[br /]
Than take a seat in parliament by fellow-felons cheered,[br /]
While one of those ‘not provens’ proved me cleared as you are cleared.[br /]
[br /]
All that the Parnell Commission had demonstrated was summed up in the last line of his satire :[br /]
[br /]
We are not ruled by murderers, but only – by their friends.[br /]
[br /]
This explosive piece was not dared by many publications. The Times rejected it. Kipling next offered it to Frank Harris, the editor of Fortnightly, he also refused. Kipling preferred to put his verse in waste paper basket but Henley published them on March 8, in Scot Observer. Its echoes were heard in the Parliament. Kipling attacked English Liberals who relied on Irish support in Parliament.[br /]
[br /]
Spring of 1890 saw the greater part of the Barrack-Room Ballads and half a dozen long stories. Meanwhile, Mr Lockwood arrived from India. This made Kipling happy, as he was to spend the days working with him. Kipling also revived his memories of Westward Ho ! by visiting Cromell Price on his retirement function with his father. This was the only public function attended by Kipling after attaining his state of popularity. He was such a popular figure that half day leave was announced at Westward Ho ! to avoid the crowd. However, overstraining himself was affecting his health and so he went on a long sea voyage on his doctor’s advice.[br /]
[br /]
When he returned he was ready with a different kind of work. The Light That Failed was completed by August 1890. His hectic work over it had been the prime reason for his deteriorating health. The novel was a realistic piece, based upon his own life in Embankment Chambers. Macmillian published The Light That Failed as a bound volume in 1891. It was a long piece of work with a tragic end that threw the whole plot and characterization into a new light. The complete version of The Light That Failed was dedicated to his mother, the only woman Kipling had yet learned to love. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling With The Balestiers[/b][br /]
[br /]
Edmund Gosse had introduced Kipling to Wolcott, but they did not seem to hit it off. When they did it could be said that no other man than Wolcott had exercised such influence on Kipling.[br /]
[br /]
They decided to write a story in collaboration. Despite Kipling’s bad health, some progress was made on the book. Kipling and Wolcott started having a good time together.[br /]
[br /]
Then Wolcott’s sister Carrie, came to London and took Wolcott’s domestic affairs in her hands. She met Kipling at Wolcott’s office in Dean’s Yard. At this point marriage was a far away thought for Rudyard.[br /]
[br /]
The book’s title was to be The Naulakha – A Novel of East and West. ‘Naulakha’ was a Hindi word for nine ‘lakhs’ of rupees, and the name applied in India to a fabulous jewel. It was a melodrama concerned with an American engineer who tries to get possession of the ‘Naulakha’ jewel to impress a native woman.[br /]
[br /]
Before Naulakha came out in print, things were shaping up between Kipling and Carrie. However, Kipling’s health started deteriorating once again. The doctor advised him a long sea voyage. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Wide Spreading Glory[/b][br /]
[br /]
By this time, his works had created a place in the literary world. The celebrity was so great that press reporters pestered him for interviews. His privacy was intruded and Rudyard found it difficult to remain unnoticed. Moreover, he had unique looks, his moustaches, eyebrows, spectacles were recognized immediately wherever he went. The press recorded all his moves.[br /]
[br /]
In between, Kipling managed to move to America, a short voyage to gain his health, under the name of ‘J Macdonald’. On his return, he found. Wolcott in bad health and two friends were together in the Isle of Wight with Wolcott’s mother and sister. As the dull English summer approached the traveler was ready again for a voyage around the world.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Southern Hemisphere[/b][br /]
[br /]
In August 1891, he boarded S S Moor and left for Madeira and the Cape Town – his first voyage into the Southern Hemisphere.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling spent the greater part of September and October in Cape Town. He left Cape Town for a long lonely voyage to Hobart and Wellington in S S Doric. He reached Port Hobart in Tasmania and after a five-day run across the stormy Tasman he reached New Zealand. After a fortnight’s stay in New Zealand, he traveled to Bluff. Early in November, he left for Melbourne. After a brief stay in Australia, he left for Colombo. From there he took a train through southern and central India to Lahore. It was ‘home’ – at last.[br /]
[br /]
A week before Christmas he reached Lahore. This time he was a known personality and an honored guest of the city, and everyone wanted him. There were many programs organized in his honor.[br /]
[br /]
However, a cable from Carrie Balestier sent from Germany conveying Walcott’s ill health made Kipling leave Lahore in a hurry. But before leaving India he went to Bombay to see the ayah who nursed him as a baby. This was his last visit to India.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling, Carrie and marriage[/b][br /]
[br /]
Wolcott did not recover and soon died, but before his death, he handed his family’s responsibility to Kipling. Kipling was to not only take care of Wolcott’s family, but also marry one of his sisters. To whom, however, was not known. Kipling arrived in London on January 10, 1892. Without any delay Kipling and Carrie decided to get married. On January 18, at All Soul’s Langham Place, Kipling and Carrie got married. The marriage was a happy and lasting one. They enjoyed a happy married life of 44 years, until death separated them. Carrie gave birth to three children.[br /]
[br /]
After getting married, Kipling and his new bride moved to America for their honeymoon. On the way, Kipling completed the Naulakha. Wolcott’s dream was fulfilled. Another of Kipling’s work was ready to be released and it was the volume of Barrack Room Ballads.[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Kiplings in Vermont[/b][br /]
[br /]
The couple crossed the Atlantic in February 1892. Travelling through Chicago and across Canadian prairie to Rocky Mountain and Vancouver, they went to Japan where they spent much of their honeymoon at Yokohama. Mrs Hunt (Kipling’s mother’s friend) acted as their host. Mrs Hunt arranged the dance at the ball during their stay in Japan. Kipling was not completely off work even during these days. As usual, when on voyage he used to send the travel sketch to The Times and many other papers. He was also working on verse and prose fiction. Kipling was busy composing The Rhyme of the Three Sealers and Judson and the Empire. In July 1892, Rudyard bade his final farewell to Asia.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Back to Brattleboro[/b][br /]
[br /]
At Brattleboro, ‘Madam’ Balestire (Carrie’s grandmother) offered the couple Bliss Cottage. They accepted and started living a simple life, but still finance was a problem. But sources of finance soon opened as The Naulakha and Barrack-Room Ballads were published and fetched reasonable royalty. Before the year ended, Kipling became a father with the birth of a baby girl whom they called Josephine, after Carrie’s sister.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Naulakha – The Home[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was a family man. He proved to be a good husband and a good father. Kipling and Carrie always wanted a house of their own. Even in their weak financial condition they were negotiating with H R Marshall, a New York architect and an old friend, to build a house. When they had saved enough they started the construction. The house was decided to be named ‘Naulakha’ in memory of Wolcott.[br /]
[br /]
Beatty (Carrie’s brother) handled the things regarding construction. Kipling and Beatty were on great terms those days. Carrie nursed Marjorie, Beatty’s daughter, and Josephine while the men used to work out. Kipling was fascinated by the company of the children and would entertain the kids with animal stories.[br /]
[br /]
Beatty was extravagant and over $4,000 were spent on the house. Relationship with Beatty was soured because he could not account for the money spent.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Jungle Books[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s pen continued to pour and this time it was an experiment in a new field. In November 1892, he came up with some wolf-story called Mowgli’s Brother. This was the beginning of the train of thoughts, which became a base for the new, powerful, and lasting myth, which Kipling was to elaborate in first and second Jungle Books, the bestseller among his works.[br /]
[br /]
The fables of a man-child who became the master of the jungle, but who could not resolve the dilemma of his life, became a huge success. The characters, Mowgli, a strong and beautiful youth, Bagheera – the panther, Baloo – the bear, and Sher Khan – the jungle bully are enjoyed by every reader even today.[br /]
[br /]
The new flow included The Seven Seas, which prefaced a dedication addressed to the city of Bombay, his birthplace and the diverse set of stories in the volume called The Day’s Work.[br /]
[br /]
As Josephine grew, relations with Beatty soured. Carrie, who had spent a wretched autumn over Beatty’s affair, was now expecting her second child. Daughter Elsie was born on February 2, 1896 to square up the family. After the event, Kipling produced the first American style work, Captains Courageous. It took his mind off threatening politics and family quarrels. All the characters were typical Americans in an American setting.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Leaving Naulakha[/b][br /]
[br /]
The dealings with the brother-in-law over the last four years were exhausting. Kipling decided to leave the States and go back to England. The last two months at ‘Naulakha’ slipped away, as the Kiplings maintained their way of life. Then one day, Kipling sat down for a few hours and came up with the composition of the most rigorous of all verse form. He called it Sestina of the Tramp-royal.[br /]
[br /]
Therefore, from Job to Job I’ve moved along.[br /]
Pay couldn’t ’old me when my time was done,[br /]
For something in my ’ead upset it all,[br /]
Till I’ad dropped whatever ’twas for good,[br /]
An’, out at Sea, be’eld the dock-lights die,[br /]
An’ met my mate-the wind that tramps the World ![br /]
[br /]
August 28 was the last day at ‘Naulakha’ and Rudyard was walking up and down the terrace. ‘There are only two places in the world’, he said ‘where I want to live – Bombay and Brattleboro. And I can’t live at either’. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Back To England[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling did not quite enjoy ‘Rock House’ in England, as it was totally different. Little Josephine was getting accustomed to the new place. When spring came in 1897, Kipling went on a house hunting spree. Carrie was expecting another child by then. The Kiplings moved to Rottingdean, Sussex which was to be their home for five years. The poet was working on various things. A poem of seven stanzas began to shape up in his mind. July 17 was the day when The Times published his poem under a new title Recessional. This work of Kipling astonished the nation by revealing its heart felt but unrealized emotion. The poem had certain flaws, which the anti-Imperialists were quick to work upon.[br /]
[br /]
The chorus of applause that greeted Recessional far surpassed his earlier triumphs. This public tribute accompanied by an event in Kipling’s private life, meant more to him than anything else. On August 17, 1897, a son was born to Carrie at ‘North End House’. In accordance to family tradition the boy was named after his grandfather’s name, John.[br /]
[br /]
[b]White Man’s Burden[/b][br /]
[br /]
After John’s arrival, Kipling was busy with something very novice, White Man’s Burden. It was quite different. The poem was straightforward and also surprising at first sight. The message conveyed was that of why a stronger country should rule over weaker country for some personal interest taking away the freedom. It suggested that United States should shoulder the responsibilities of so called ‘global civilizing mission’ with England. Spain and America were at war and the sea was of vital importance, it had brought America and England closer.[br /]
[br /]
The year 1898 held Kipling’s attention on two subjects – use of sea power in the war and the White man’s rule over the world. What did Kipling mean by the White Man’s Burden ? In the 1890s the phrase ‘a white man’ did not only mean a man with an unpigmented skin, it had a secondary symbolic meaning – a man with the moral standards of the civilized world.[br /]
[br /]
It appeared at a critical moment in the debate about Imperialism within the United States. The theme was Empire and, with characteristic recklessness, he inserted a phrase or two that shocked the strait-laced :[br /]
[br /]
Take up the White Man’s burden –[br /]
Send forth the best ye breed –[br /]
Go bind your sons to exile[br /]
To serve your captives’ need.[br /]
…. Wait in heavy harness[br /]
On fluttered folk and wild –[br /]
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,[br /]
Half devil and Half child.[br /]
[br /]
These phrases, were best-remembered lines in the poem, and through it he displayed prize of Imperialism. It was a task to be done without material reward, thanks or even a confident hope of success.[br /]
[br /]
What the Americans wanted to gain by conquering Cuba and Philippines? many questions like this were raised by the poem. This poem was published in London as well as New York. The poem actually condemned war. It was the sense of duty; the burden comes ‘to search your manhood’.[br /]
[br /]
Five years passed before Kipling could estimate the effect of his words over the American policy. President Theodore Roosevelt, at the end of his first term wrote to Kipling about his attempt to take up the ‘White Man’s Burden’. [br /]
Theodore Roosevelt to Rudyard Kipling:[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 1,1904[/b][br /]
[br /]
"I have done a good many things in the past three years… It is natural that some people should have been alienated by each thing I did, and the aggregate of all that have been alienated may be more – than sufficient to overthrow me. Thus, in dealing with the Philippines I have first the Jack-fools who seriously think – that any group of pirates and headhunters need nothing but independence in order that it may be turned into a dark-hued New England town-meeting, and then the entirely practical creatures who join with these extremist because I do not intend that the island shall be exploited for corrupt purpose.[br /]
[br /]
I have accomplished certain definite things. I would consider myself a hundred times over rapid if I had nothing more of my credit than Panama and the coaling stations in Cuba. So that you see my frame of mind is a good deal like of your old viceroy when he addressed the new viceroy."[br /]
[br /]
It was Rudyard’s practice to run some prose and verse side by side. While polishing the White man’s Burden he was working on two more Stalky stories.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Last Visit To The United States[/b][br /]
[br /]
The year 1898 marked various blows to Kipling. His dear uncle Sir Edward Burne Jones died. Now aunt Gorgie was staying alone at North End House. Her granddaughter, Angela Mackail used to visit the Kiplings at times. Kipling’s children were also about the same age. It was a pleasure for Rudyard to tell them stories. The same year Kipling’s collection of stories written in Vermont called The Day’s Work was published.[br /]
[br /]
Another bad news was to come. Trix and her husband had come from India and Trix was in a very bad health. She was placed under her mother’s care at Tisbury, the happiness of the family was disturbed.[br /]
[br /]
Carrie wished to see her mother that winter. Rudyard also had to settle a dispute with an American publisher for some copyrights violation at New York, so a visit was a must. But Kipling was not willing to take the children with him in midwinter across North Atlantic. But Carrie insisted and the family left London in frost and fog. The entire family suffered some ailment during their journey to New York. Carrie somehow managed to recover soon for the sake of the children. The following week, Kipling and Carrie carried out their respective businesses. ‘Naulakha’ was to be disposed and Kipling was to clear up the copyrights issue. All this further deteriorated his health. Rudyard was diagnosed with ‘inflammation in one lung’. On the other hand, Josephine was also not recovering. Carrie decided to take her away from hotel to the De Forests’ house on Long Island.[br /]
[br /]
Little Josephine was diagnosed of dysentery. Carrie visited De Forests’ house on receiving the news of her daughters deteriorating health. She penned in her diary :[br /]
[br /]
Sunday, March 5[br /]
[br /]
I saw Josephine 3 times today – morning, afternoon, and at 10 pm for the last time. She was conscious for a moment and sent her love to ‘Daddy and all’.[br /]
[br /]
Monday, March 6[br /]
[br /]
Josephine left us at 6.30 this morning.[br /]
[br /]
Due to Kipling’s bad health the news were not given to him immediately. When Kipling was given the news it was a big blow to him. By the summer, the Kiplings bade farewell to United States and their darling Josephine.[br /]
[br /]
On their return from States, Kipling completed the verse of Stalky & Co. The book was published on October 6, 1899 and brought him back in headlines. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Kim[/b][br /]
[br /]
End of 1899 had been so disastrous that it exhausted the Kiplings. Kipling was ill again and as soon as his work permitted, the family packed off to South Africa. In South Africa, he was given a house called ‘Wool Sack’ (it was Carrie’s ideal house) by Cecil Rhodes, a diamond magnate and South African Statesman. After a 3 months stay, by the end of English winter, the family returned to Rottingdean.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, the summer of 1900 saw the completion of his last work on India, the story called Kim, on which he had been working intermittently for more than seven years. Kim did not evoke the response his earlier works had. Arnold Bennett, a critic commented: ‘Stalky chilled me and Kim killed me’. Kim is not a political romance. Kim is a story of a boy rowing through India, loving it and inviting the readers to love it. The story of Kim, initially not much appreciated, later created a mark in the long running works of Kipling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]‘Bateman’ – The House in Sussex[/b][br /]
[br /]
Alfred Harmsworth, on whose request Kipling had written The Absent Minded Beggar, had raised a vast sum of money for the benefit of British soldiers fighting in the Boer War at South Africa. In 1899, Harmsworth visited Kipling in his own car and introduced him to the joys and frustrations of locomobile (a vehicle).[br /]
[br /]
House hunting was the major reason behind the purchase of a ‘Locomobile’. They went to Etchingham, where there was talk of a house named ‘Bateman’s’. It was a well-built Jacobean stone house in a lonely valley, at the foot of a steep lane running down from an unfrequented village. ‘Bateman’s’ was so very liked by the Kiplings that for days they talked about it. There was no doubt in their minds that it was their dream-house, the ‘very-own-house’ they wanted to have and soon they bought it.[br /]
[br /]
The family shifted to their dream house ‘Bateman’s’ in 1902. It was the last moving in for the Kiplings.[br /]
[br /]
The Five Nations[br /]
[br /]
‘Bateman’s’ brought back the comforts of ‘Naulakha’. Kipling had started writing and in 1903 The Five Nation, his work on South African verse, was published. A strong reaction was setting in against the sentiments of wartime patriotism. It unveiled the prospects of imperialists in Parliament. Joseph Chamberlain, a parliamentarian, resigned. A day of great events was over, and Rudyard recorded the fact :[br /]
[br /]
Things never yet created things[br /]
‘Once on a time there was a Man.’[br /]
[br /]
With The Five Nations, Kipling put the affairs of South Africa behind him. The year 1904 was marked as a year of some work. The compilation of Traffic and Discoveries was ready, and the other one was With the Night Mail. After completion of these works he swung back to the past, and in September that year, sat down for a series of tales from English history. He had to research a lot for it. Kipling’s father said, "You’ll have to look up your references rather carefully to work on this idea." So, Kipling consulted ‘Uncle Ned’, a good mediaeval scholar, about historical reading. And these studies led to a fabulous piece of work.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling asked his friend Gwynne, to buy a paper donkey’s head, for children’s play of ‘Puck and Titania’ in 1904. 1906 saw Kipling’s hard historical work in form of the Puck of Pook’s Hill. The theme of the ‘Puck’ books is the land and people persisting through the time and also about revolution. The verses that accompany these stories mark the height of Kipling’s literary achievement. Much of these verses have been admired and quoted. It was a great work and it was something, which spoke of the great literary heights Kipling had attained.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Highest Honor[/b][br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings had to make a journey to Sweden in 1907, just after their return from Canada. It was the occasion of receiving the highest honor for contributing in the field of literature - Nobel Prize for Literature. His unmatched contribution was recognized worldwide the Nobel committee decided to honor him with the prize. It was a comparatively plain ceremony as the King of Sweden had died recently. As it happens sometime, his award met with criticism too. The Liberal leader Gardiner commented, "The goldsmiths (Thomas Hardy, George Meredith, and Swinburne) are passed by and the literary blacksmith is exalted".[br /]
[br /]
[b]Personal Setbacks[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling always hated the English winter and since 1900, he had planned out his winters out of England. The Kipling family went to South Africa every year. This continued till 1908, but as the children were growing it was difficult to adjust and they had to stop going every year.[br /]
[br /]
In 1909, Kipling came up with Action and Reaction. His mother was worn out partly by taking care of her unfortunate daughter Trix. Alice Kipling’s health collapsed. Kipling was summoned to Tisbury, a lonely village in the Wiltshire Downs, where his parents had made their home after their return from India. Alice died on November 22, 1910.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s father too was old and tired. His last satisfaction in life was to see the publication of Rewards and Fairies, a collection of King Arthur’s 11 stories in 1910. Lockwood died in January 1911.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Loss of John[/b][br /]
[br /]
On August 4, 1914, World War I was declared. There was a public appeal to the nation for voluntary recruitment in the New Army. John, who was not yet 17, went up to London to offer himself for the commission. John was eligible for appointment as ‘Temporary Second Lieutenant’ and also got some training in Officers’ Training Corps to clear the test. He was unable to qualify because of his poor eyesight. He next tried his luck in getting enlisted as a private soldier. Kipling applied his influences and got John appointed in the ‘Irish Guard’ regiment.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, Kipling had started with his new work, he visited the camps, hospitals and seaports writing descriptive articles about them for the Daily Telegraph.[br /]
[br /]
In August, the regiment of Irish Guard was put under the order of France. Kipling bade farewell to John at Bath Club. Before leaving for France, John stayed with the family for three days. On his birthday on August 17, he left them for France.[br /]
[br /]
Within a month, the news came that John was wounded while leading a small party of his men against the Germans. It was a great shock, the Kiplings tried to track down the wounded men of John’s battalion but did not get any information. Almost after two years the actual confirmation of John’s death came. Neither Kipling nor Carrie talked much about their son’s death, but their life without him was never the same.[br /]
[br /]
‘Have you news of my boy Jack ?’[br /]
Not this tide.[br /]
‘When d’you think that he’ll come back ?’[br /]
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.[br /]
‘Has any one else had word of him ?’[br /]
Not this tide.[br /]
For what is sunk will hardly swim,[br /]
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.[br /]
‘Oh, dear, what comfort can I find ?’[br /]
None this tide,[br /]
Nor any tide,[br /]
Except he did not shame his kind –[br /]
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.[br /]
Then hold your head up all the more,[br /]
This tide,[br /]
And every tide;[br /]
Because he was the son you bore,[br /]
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide ![br /]
[br /]
After two uneventful years Kipling and Carrie started for a small voyage to Egypt to avoid the winter of 1913. Kipling continued with his work of travel sketch and Letter of Travel was published that year.[br /]
[br /]
In 1917, Kipling came up with A Diversity of Creatures, containing Regulus, the story of boys who wrestled with the fifth ode. The years after World War I had brought change in Kipling’s work. The Kiplings resumed the motoring-tours in the autumn of 1920. Every visit to France, after the war, had the character of a pilgrimage as there laid their young boy – John.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling had taken up the duty of War Graves Commissioner. After several tours, by spring of 1922, the construction of cemeteries in France was so advanced that the King and the Queen decided to go there on behalf of the whole nation. After the visit to the memorial, the Royal Couple had a private conversation with Kipling and Carrie. They spoke about John.[br /]
[br /]
After the visit, Kipling was exhausted. His work for the War Graves Commission had reached the climax and the most sustained of all his literary efforts – The Irish Guards in the Great War was at last finished. This work brought Kipling happiness. John’s friends visited him and talked in the language of soldiers and talked about Regiment’s experiences. This kept John’s world alive in their imaginations. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Last Decade[/b][br /]
[br /]
After years, Kipling had something to celebrate for. It was their darling daughter’s marriage ceremony. In October 1924, Kipling and Carrie parted from Elsie Kipling. She was married to Captain George Bambridge, who served in Irish Guards. The World War seemed to have laid an undoubtedly great impact on Kipling’s mind. All his later works showed some of its impact. Several effective tales were written based on psychological studies of war. All those tales were collected in 1926 and variety of other pieces in 1926 and published under the general title Debits and Credits.[br /]
[br /]
After Elsie’s marriage, Kipling and his wife had each other for support. The Kiplings were growing old and to escape the winters, they planned a short sea voyage. But due to Kipling’s illness he was recommended a long sea voyage. It was also his dream to go on a long sea voyage and had mentioned it in Just So Stories : ‘I’d love to roll to Rio, some day before I’m old.’ In 1927, the couple crossed the line of Tropic. The man, who had always something to say, wrote Brazilian Sketches for the Morning Post during this period. The voyage surely helped Kipling, but did not help Carrie’s health. In 1929, she was asked to go abroad for her health. Then too, she never relaxed from nursing her husband and also never had a nurse for her.[br /]
[br /]
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew[br /]
To serve your turn long after they are gone,[br /]
And still hold on when there is nothing in you[br /]
Except the will that says to them : Hold on ![br /]
[br /]
Kipling must have written this for Carrie and along with this verse he had also planned a sea voyage for her health. In February 1930, the two of them broke new grounds by sailing for the West Indies. Carrie’s health deteriorated due to appendicitis and she was admitted into the hospital at Bermuda. After recovering from it, they both returned to England by June. This was their last journey exploring the world. In the same year, Thy Servant a Dog was published. It was a genuine attempt to present a dog’s point of view. This book had made a mark and nearly 1,00,000 copies were sold within six months.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling was now aging and losing his health. He did not contribute much in the last years of his life. His last serious work was done in the early months of 1932. It was a kind of conversation piece called Proofs of Holy Writ. In this book, Ben Jonson and Shakespeare are shown discussing the authorized version of the Bible. It was too late to be included in Limits and Renewals. Limits and Renewals was a collection of verses, mostly written in 1927 and 1928.[br /]
[br /]
Then Kipling began to write a book which, as per Carrie, was to deal with his life from the point of view of his work. The book was Something of Myself in which he has preferred to talk about his work than his personal life. This was published posthumously.[br /]
[br /]
During the 1935 summer, Kipling was busy discussing his books like Thy Servant a Dog, The Light that Failed and Elephant Boy with Hollywood agents for making it into a commercial film. Thy Servant a Dog was dropped, but the other two were later made into films.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling’s Last Year [/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was now approaching his 70th birthday. He was busy redrafting his will. He was once heard as saying, "Somehow seems to lack charm !" When the day arrived (December 30), neither Kipling nor Carrie were in the mood of jubilation. But to their surprise they got a pile of letters wishing him. Among it was a letter from the King himself in spite of his illness. Kipling felt very proud of it.[br /]
[br /]
The man, who had always avoided English winter, planned to go to Cannes in January 1936. They had already arrived at Brown’s Hotel a few days ago. On January 12, the Kiplings went to Hamstead to see George Bambridge (Elsie’s husband) who was ill with bronchitis. Kipling was in great health and looking forward to his visit to France.[br /]
[br /]
However, on the morning of January 13, Rudyard was rushed to Middlesex Hospital because of a violent hemorrhage attack. It was a blow for the entire world, which was waiting to know how Kipling was doing. Press photographers haunted the hospital and telegrams and telephones poured in. On the 16th his condition worsened. The next day Carrie and Elise were asked to come to the hospital urgently. But Kipling could not recover and on January 18, 1936, on their 44th wedding anniversary, he passed away. The writer whose devotion had been rewarded by the King’s friendship was buried in poet’s corner at Westminster Abbey. [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Rudyard started his trip on March 9, 1889 and visited Rangoon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Yokohama, finally sailing off by City of Peking on a 20-day voyage across the stormy North Pacific to reach America.[br /]
[br /]
A man with English temperament found America a strange place. Kipling did not appreciate Americans and their policies, lawlessness and custom of carrying pistols in their pockets. Kipling delivered many shallow comments : "The American does not drink at meals as a sensible man should. Indeed he has no meals. He stuffs for ten minutes thrice a day. He pours his variety into himself at unholy hours. Most of the men wore frock coats and top hats – but they all spat. They spat on principle."[br /]
[br /]
In spite of all this, he did enjoy his stay at San Francisco and made many friends. He visited many places in USA including Portland, Oregon, Columbia River, Tacoma and Montana.
[br /]
[br /]
He reached to the eastern states where he became something more than a globetrotter. He had nearly a two-month stay at Beaver, in the house of Mrs Hill’s parents. Mrs Hill had a younger sister called Caroline Taylor. She was a cheerful, plump, young girl. Kipling enjoyed his stay over there in Caroline’s company.[br /]
[br /]
He went off to Buffalo, to see the fall and also visited Washington. At Boston, a historic association took place. He met Mark Twain at Elmira. Twain received him with courtesy and gave him a ‘copy’ of an interview, which was reprinted in uncountable American papers.[br /]
[br /]
Soon Kipling’s holidays were over and his money was spent, and so he went to New York in September and seriously set himself to work. Much of his work remained unpublished in New York. And it was time to move back to London. Mrs Hills was returning to India with her sister and cousin. Kipling accompanied them up to London.
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Return to London[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was back in London after seven long years of very good experience. Rudyard was a man who traveled all around the world. He knew two worlds, East and West. His fame preceded him at England. Though they noticed him, it was more out of curiosity rather than for comradeship. His earliest introductions in London were through two journalists, Mowbray Morris (who had been an Art Editor of the Pioneer) and Stephen Wheeler. In November 1889, Morris accepted his first two long ballads. It was typical of Kipling that he started his new career by new name.[br /]
[br /]
His poems appeared in Macmillan’s under the name of ‘Yussuf’. One of those two earlier poems, The Ballad of East and West, raised its author into the first rank of contemporary writers.[br /]
[br /]
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the Twain shall meet,[br /]
Till Earth and sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment seat;[br /]
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, [br /]
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth ![br /]
[br /]
Aged Tennyson at Farringford told a friend that young Kipling was ‘the only one of them with divine fire’.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling had got success with editors and publishers but was still lonely in London. Through letters, he kept in touch with Mrs Hill. He also wrote to Caroline Taylor, whom he had known only for a few weeks. These letters were beyond doubt love-letters. One letter to Caroline goes this way : ‘Heart o’ mine, you as well as I, must have discovered by this time that the writing of love letters is no easy thing. I own that I laughed, disrespectfully at the delicious one you sent off by the pilot – happy man was he’. Such words must have come from an affectionate heart.[br /]
[br /]
Miss Taylor’s father was a clergyman and it is likely that Kipling’s unorthodoxy was the reason why the affair came to nothing.[br /]
[br /]
The genius was back to work, and started composing again. He wrote Truthful James at Savile Club as a critical allusion to Cleopatra just published by Rider Haggard, a well-known publisher. Edmund Goose, a friend, introduced him to a young American literary man named Wolcott Balestier, a journalist.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Days in London[/b][br /]
[br /]
In the fell clutch of circumstance[br /]
I have not winced nor cried aloud,[br /]
Under the bludgeonings of chance[br /]
My head is bloody but unbowed.[br /]
[br /]
This poem by William Ernest Henley was enjoyed and stored by young Kipling in Lahore. Henley was the man who started Scot Observer. He knew everyone from Oscar Wilde to George Bernard Shaw and every one liked him.
[br /]
[br /]
He hunted for newcomers, and Yeats, Barrie, as well as Kipling were among his early discoveries. Kipling could hardly be said to have graduated in the world of letters without coming into Henley’s orbit. Henley was awaiting Kipling’s return from India with interest. The first approach was from Kipling. On February 1, 1890, the Scot Observer published a piece from Kipling’s pen.[br /]
[br /]
Love and Death once ceased then Strife[br /]
At the Tavern of Man’s Life.[br /]
Called for wine, and threw – alas ! –[br /]
Each his quiver on the grass.[br /]
[br /]
The first of these, Danny Deever, appeared in the Scot Observer and astonished the critics. They say, it made Henley stand up and dance on his wooden leg, while Professor Masson, the grave commentator on Milton, waved the paper before his students, crying : ‘Here’s Literature ! Here’s Literature, at last !’[br /]
[br /]
This was just the starting, his works were to command him a place at ‘poet’s corner’. Bell and Stephen (his friends at Savile Club) asked Kipling at Embankment Chambers whether he had anything on hand. Kipling gave some political verses, which he supposed, had missed their market and were out of date. They were seventy lines of bitter invective against the Liberal party, showing its association with Irish Nationalists as revealed by the Parnell Commission. It was the sensation of the month.[br /]
[br /]
Hold up those hands of innocence – go, scare your sheep together.[br /]
The blundering, tripping tups that bleat behind the old bell-wether;[br /]
My soul ! I’d sooner lie in jail for murder plan and straight,[br /]
Pure crime I’d done with my own hand for money, lust or hate[br /]
Than take a seat in parliament by fellow-felons cheered,[br /]
While one of those ‘not provens’ proved me cleared as you are cleared.[br /]
[br /]
All that the Parnell Commission had demonstrated was summed up in the last line of his satire :[br /]
[br /]
We are not ruled by murderers, but only – by their friends.[br /]
[br /]
This explosive piece was not dared by many publications. The Times rejected it. Kipling next offered it to Frank Harris, the editor of Fortnightly, he also refused. Kipling preferred to put his verse in waste paper basket but Henley published them on March 8, in Scot Observer. Its echoes were heard in the Parliament. Kipling attacked English Liberals who relied on Irish support in Parliament.[br /]
[br /]
Spring of 1890 saw the greater part of the Barrack-Room Ballads and half a dozen long stories. Meanwhile, Mr Lockwood arrived from India. This made Kipling happy, as he was to spend the days working with him. Kipling also revived his memories of Westward Ho ! by visiting Cromell Price on his retirement function with his father. This was the only public function attended by Kipling after attaining his state of popularity. He was such a popular figure that half day leave was announced at Westward Ho ! to avoid the crowd. However, overstraining himself was affecting his health and so he went on a long sea voyage on his doctor’s advice.[br /]
[br /]
When he returned he was ready with a different kind of work. The Light That Failed was completed by August 1890. His hectic work over it had been the prime reason for his deteriorating health. The novel was a realistic piece, based upon his own life in Embankment Chambers. Macmillian published The Light That Failed as a bound volume in 1891. It was a long piece of work with a tragic end that threw the whole plot and characterization into a new light. The complete version of The Light That Failed was dedicated to his mother, the only woman Kipling had yet learned to love. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling With The Balestiers[/b][br /]
[br /]
Edmund Gosse had introduced Kipling to Wolcott, but they did not seem to hit it off. When they did it could be said that no other man than Wolcott had exercised such influence on Kipling.[br /]
[br /]
They decided to write a story in collaboration. Despite Kipling’s bad health, some progress was made on the book. Kipling and Wolcott started having a good time together.[br /]
[br /]
Then Wolcott’s sister Carrie, came to London and took Wolcott’s domestic affairs in her hands. She met Kipling at Wolcott’s office in Dean’s Yard. At this point marriage was a far away thought for Rudyard.[br /]
[br /]
The book’s title was to be The Naulakha – A Novel of East and West. ‘Naulakha’ was a Hindi word for nine ‘lakhs’ of rupees, and the name applied in India to a fabulous jewel. It was a melodrama concerned with an American engineer who tries to get possession of the ‘Naulakha’ jewel to impress a native woman.[br /]
[br /]
Before Naulakha came out in print, things were shaping up between Kipling and Carrie. However, Kipling’s health started deteriorating once again. The doctor advised him a long sea voyage. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Wide Spreading Glory[/b][br /]
[br /]
By this time, his works had created a place in the literary world. The celebrity was so great that press reporters pestered him for interviews. His privacy was intruded and Rudyard found it difficult to remain unnoticed. Moreover, he had unique looks, his moustaches, eyebrows, spectacles were recognized immediately wherever he went. The press recorded all his moves.[br /]
[br /]
In between, Kipling managed to move to America, a short voyage to gain his health, under the name of ‘J Macdonald’. On his return, he found. Wolcott in bad health and two friends were together in the Isle of Wight with Wolcott’s mother and sister. As the dull English summer approached the traveler was ready again for a voyage around the world.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Southern Hemisphere[/b][br /]
[br /]
In August 1891, he boarded S S Moor and left for Madeira and the Cape Town – his first voyage into the Southern Hemisphere.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling spent the greater part of September and October in Cape Town. He left Cape Town for a long lonely voyage to Hobart and Wellington in S S Doric. He reached Port Hobart in Tasmania and after a five-day run across the stormy Tasman he reached New Zealand. After a fortnight’s stay in New Zealand, he traveled to Bluff. Early in November, he left for Melbourne. After a brief stay in Australia, he left for Colombo. From there he took a train through southern and central India to Lahore. It was ‘home’ – at last.[br /]
[br /]
A week before Christmas he reached Lahore. This time he was a known personality and an honored guest of the city, and everyone wanted him. There were many programs organized in his honor.[br /]
[br /]
However, a cable from Carrie Balestier sent from Germany conveying Walcott’s ill health made Kipling leave Lahore in a hurry. But before leaving India he went to Bombay to see the ayah who nursed him as a baby. This was his last visit to India.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling, Carrie and marriage[/b][br /]
[br /]
Wolcott did not recover and soon died, but before his death, he handed his family’s responsibility to Kipling. Kipling was to not only take care of Wolcott’s family, but also marry one of his sisters. To whom, however, was not known. Kipling arrived in London on January 10, 1892. Without any delay Kipling and Carrie decided to get married. On January 18, at All Soul’s Langham Place, Kipling and Carrie got married. The marriage was a happy and lasting one. They enjoyed a happy married life of 44 years, until death separated them. Carrie gave birth to three children.[br /]
[br /]
After getting married, Kipling and his new bride moved to America for their honeymoon. On the way, Kipling completed the Naulakha. Wolcott’s dream was fulfilled. Another of Kipling’s work was ready to be released and it was the volume of Barrack Room Ballads.[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Kiplings in Vermont[/b][br /]
[br /]
The couple crossed the Atlantic in February 1892. Travelling through Chicago and across Canadian prairie to Rocky Mountain and Vancouver, they went to Japan where they spent much of their honeymoon at Yokohama. Mrs Hunt (Kipling’s mother’s friend) acted as their host. Mrs Hunt arranged the dance at the ball during their stay in Japan. Kipling was not completely off work even during these days. As usual, when on voyage he used to send the travel sketch to The Times and many other papers. He was also working on verse and prose fiction. Kipling was busy composing The Rhyme of the Three Sealers and Judson and the Empire. In July 1892, Rudyard bade his final farewell to Asia.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Back to Brattleboro[/b][br /]
[br /]
At Brattleboro, ‘Madam’ Balestire (Carrie’s grandmother) offered the couple Bliss Cottage. They accepted and started living a simple life, but still finance was a problem. But sources of finance soon opened as The Naulakha and Barrack-Room Ballads were published and fetched reasonable royalty. Before the year ended, Kipling became a father with the birth of a baby girl whom they called Josephine, after Carrie’s sister.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Naulakha – The Home[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was a family man. He proved to be a good husband and a good father. Kipling and Carrie always wanted a house of their own. Even in their weak financial condition they were negotiating with H R Marshall, a New York architect and an old friend, to build a house. When they had saved enough they started the construction. The house was decided to be named ‘Naulakha’ in memory of Wolcott.[br /]
[br /]
Beatty (Carrie’s brother) handled the things regarding construction. Kipling and Beatty were on great terms those days. Carrie nursed Marjorie, Beatty’s daughter, and Josephine while the men used to work out. Kipling was fascinated by the company of the children and would entertain the kids with animal stories.[br /]
[br /]
Beatty was extravagant and over $4,000 were spent on the house. Relationship with Beatty was soured because he could not account for the money spent.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Jungle Books[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s pen continued to pour and this time it was an experiment in a new field. In November 1892, he came up with some wolf-story called Mowgli’s Brother. This was the beginning of the train of thoughts, which became a base for the new, powerful, and lasting myth, which Kipling was to elaborate in first and second Jungle Books, the bestseller among his works.[br /]
[br /]
The fables of a man-child who became the master of the jungle, but who could not resolve the dilemma of his life, became a huge success. The characters, Mowgli, a strong and beautiful youth, Bagheera – the panther, Baloo – the bear, and Sher Khan – the jungle bully are enjoyed by every reader even today.[br /]
[br /]
The new flow included The Seven Seas, which prefaced a dedication addressed to the city of Bombay, his birthplace and the diverse set of stories in the volume called The Day’s Work.[br /]
[br /]
As Josephine grew, relations with Beatty soured. Carrie, who had spent a wretched autumn over Beatty’s affair, was now expecting her second child. Daughter Elsie was born on February 2, 1896 to square up the family. After the event, Kipling produced the first American style work, Captains Courageous. It took his mind off threatening politics and family quarrels. All the characters were typical Americans in an American setting.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Leaving Naulakha[/b][br /]
[br /]
The dealings with the brother-in-law over the last four years were exhausting. Kipling decided to leave the States and go back to England. The last two months at ‘Naulakha’ slipped away, as the Kiplings maintained their way of life. Then one day, Kipling sat down for a few hours and came up with the composition of the most rigorous of all verse form. He called it Sestina of the Tramp-royal.[br /]
[br /]
Therefore, from Job to Job I’ve moved along.[br /]
Pay couldn’t ’old me when my time was done,[br /]
For something in my ’ead upset it all,[br /]
Till I’ad dropped whatever ’twas for good,[br /]
An’, out at Sea, be’eld the dock-lights die,[br /]
An’ met my mate-the wind that tramps the World ![br /]
[br /]
August 28 was the last day at ‘Naulakha’ and Rudyard was walking up and down the terrace. ‘There are only two places in the world’, he said ‘where I want to live – Bombay and Brattleboro. And I can’t live at either’. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Back To England[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling did not quite enjoy ‘Rock House’ in England, as it was totally different. Little Josephine was getting accustomed to the new place. When spring came in 1897, Kipling went on a house hunting spree. Carrie was expecting another child by then. The Kiplings moved to Rottingdean, Sussex which was to be their home for five years. The poet was working on various things. A poem of seven stanzas began to shape up in his mind. July 17 was the day when The Times published his poem under a new title Recessional. This work of Kipling astonished the nation by revealing its heart felt but unrealized emotion. The poem had certain flaws, which the anti-Imperialists were quick to work upon.[br /]
[br /]
The chorus of applause that greeted Recessional far surpassed his earlier triumphs. This public tribute accompanied by an event in Kipling’s private life, meant more to him than anything else. On August 17, 1897, a son was born to Carrie at ‘North End House’. In accordance to family tradition the boy was named after his grandfather’s name, John.[br /]
[br /]
[b]White Man’s Burden[/b][br /]
[br /]
After John’s arrival, Kipling was busy with something very novice, White Man’s Burden. It was quite different. The poem was straightforward and also surprising at first sight. The message conveyed was that of why a stronger country should rule over weaker country for some personal interest taking away the freedom. It suggested that United States should shoulder the responsibilities of so called ‘global civilizing mission’ with England. Spain and America were at war and the sea was of vital importance, it had brought America and England closer.[br /]
[br /]
The year 1898 held Kipling’s attention on two subjects – use of sea power in the war and the White man’s rule over the world. What did Kipling mean by the White Man’s Burden ? In the 1890s the phrase ‘a white man’ did not only mean a man with an unpigmented skin, it had a secondary symbolic meaning – a man with the moral standards of the civilized world.[br /]
[br /]
It appeared at a critical moment in the debate about Imperialism within the United States. The theme was Empire and, with characteristic recklessness, he inserted a phrase or two that shocked the strait-laced :[br /]
[br /]
Take up the White Man’s burden –[br /]
Send forth the best ye breed –[br /]
Go bind your sons to exile[br /]
To serve your captives’ need.[br /]
…. Wait in heavy harness[br /]
On fluttered folk and wild –[br /]
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,[br /]
Half devil and Half child.[br /]
[br /]
These phrases, were best-remembered lines in the poem, and through it he displayed prize of Imperialism. It was a task to be done without material reward, thanks or even a confident hope of success.[br /]
[br /]
What the Americans wanted to gain by conquering Cuba and Philippines? many questions like this were raised by the poem. This poem was published in London as well as New York. The poem actually condemned war. It was the sense of duty; the burden comes ‘to search your manhood’.[br /]
[br /]
Five years passed before Kipling could estimate the effect of his words over the American policy. President Theodore Roosevelt, at the end of his first term wrote to Kipling about his attempt to take up the ‘White Man’s Burden’. [br /]
Theodore Roosevelt to Rudyard Kipling:[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 1,1904[/b][br /]
[br /]
"I have done a good many things in the past three years… It is natural that some people should have been alienated by each thing I did, and the aggregate of all that have been alienated may be more – than sufficient to overthrow me. Thus, in dealing with the Philippines I have first the Jack-fools who seriously think – that any group of pirates and headhunters need nothing but independence in order that it may be turned into a dark-hued New England town-meeting, and then the entirely practical creatures who join with these extremist because I do not intend that the island shall be exploited for corrupt purpose.[br /]
[br /]
I have accomplished certain definite things. I would consider myself a hundred times over rapid if I had nothing more of my credit than Panama and the coaling stations in Cuba. So that you see my frame of mind is a good deal like of your old viceroy when he addressed the new viceroy."[br /]
[br /]
It was Rudyard’s practice to run some prose and verse side by side. While polishing the White man’s Burden he was working on two more Stalky stories.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Last Visit To The United States[/b][br /]
[br /]
The year 1898 marked various blows to Kipling. His dear uncle Sir Edward Burne Jones died. Now aunt Gorgie was staying alone at North End House. Her granddaughter, Angela Mackail used to visit the Kiplings at times. Kipling’s children were also about the same age. It was a pleasure for Rudyard to tell them stories. The same year Kipling’s collection of stories written in Vermont called The Day’s Work was published.[br /]
[br /]
Another bad news was to come. Trix and her husband had come from India and Trix was in a very bad health. She was placed under her mother’s care at Tisbury, the happiness of the family was disturbed.[br /]
[br /]
Carrie wished to see her mother that winter. Rudyard also had to settle a dispute with an American publisher for some copyrights violation at New York, so a visit was a must. But Kipling was not willing to take the children with him in midwinter across North Atlantic. But Carrie insisted and the family left London in frost and fog. The entire family suffered some ailment during their journey to New York. Carrie somehow managed to recover soon for the sake of the children. The following week, Kipling and Carrie carried out their respective businesses. ‘Naulakha’ was to be disposed and Kipling was to clear up the copyrights issue. All this further deteriorated his health. Rudyard was diagnosed with ‘inflammation in one lung’. On the other hand, Josephine was also not recovering. Carrie decided to take her away from hotel to the De Forests’ house on Long Island.[br /]
[br /]
Little Josephine was diagnosed of dysentery. Carrie visited De Forests’ house on receiving the news of her daughters deteriorating health. She penned in her diary :[br /]
[br /]
Sunday, March 5[br /]
[br /]
I saw Josephine 3 times today – morning, afternoon, and at 10 pm for the last time. She was conscious for a moment and sent her love to ‘Daddy and all’.[br /]
[br /]
Monday, March 6[br /]
[br /]
Josephine left us at 6.30 this morning.[br /]
[br /]
Due to Kipling’s bad health the news were not given to him immediately. When Kipling was given the news it was a big blow to him. By the summer, the Kiplings bade farewell to United States and their darling Josephine.[br /]
[br /]
On their return from States, Kipling completed the verse of Stalky & Co. The book was published on October 6, 1899 and brought him back in headlines. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Kim[/b][br /]
[br /]
End of 1899 had been so disastrous that it exhausted the Kiplings. Kipling was ill again and as soon as his work permitted, the family packed off to South Africa. In South Africa, he was given a house called ‘Wool Sack’ (it was Carrie’s ideal house) by Cecil Rhodes, a diamond magnate and South African Statesman. After a 3 months stay, by the end of English winter, the family returned to Rottingdean.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, the summer of 1900 saw the completion of his last work on India, the story called Kim, on which he had been working intermittently for more than seven years. Kim did not evoke the response his earlier works had. Arnold Bennett, a critic commented: ‘Stalky chilled me and Kim killed me’. Kim is not a political romance. Kim is a story of a boy rowing through India, loving it and inviting the readers to love it. The story of Kim, initially not much appreciated, later created a mark in the long running works of Kipling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]‘Bateman’ – The House in Sussex[/b][br /]
[br /]
Alfred Harmsworth, on whose request Kipling had written The Absent Minded Beggar, had raised a vast sum of money for the benefit of British soldiers fighting in the Boer War at South Africa. In 1899, Harmsworth visited Kipling in his own car and introduced him to the joys and frustrations of locomobile (a vehicle).[br /]
[br /]
House hunting was the major reason behind the purchase of a ‘Locomobile’. They went to Etchingham, where there was talk of a house named ‘Bateman’s’. It was a well-built Jacobean stone house in a lonely valley, at the foot of a steep lane running down from an unfrequented village. ‘Bateman’s’ was so very liked by the Kiplings that for days they talked about it. There was no doubt in their minds that it was their dream-house, the ‘very-own-house’ they wanted to have and soon they bought it.[br /]
[br /]
The family shifted to their dream house ‘Bateman’s’ in 1902. It was the last moving in for the Kiplings.[br /]
[br /]
The Five Nations[br /]
[br /]
‘Bateman’s’ brought back the comforts of ‘Naulakha’. Kipling had started writing and in 1903 The Five Nation, his work on South African verse, was published. A strong reaction was setting in against the sentiments of wartime patriotism. It unveiled the prospects of imperialists in Parliament. Joseph Chamberlain, a parliamentarian, resigned. A day of great events was over, and Rudyard recorded the fact :[br /]
[br /]
Things never yet created things[br /]
‘Once on a time there was a Man.’[br /]
[br /]
With The Five Nations, Kipling put the affairs of South Africa behind him. The year 1904 was marked as a year of some work. The compilation of Traffic and Discoveries was ready, and the other one was With the Night Mail. After completion of these works he swung back to the past, and in September that year, sat down for a series of tales from English history. He had to research a lot for it. Kipling’s father said, "You’ll have to look up your references rather carefully to work on this idea." So, Kipling consulted ‘Uncle Ned’, a good mediaeval scholar, about historical reading. And these studies led to a fabulous piece of work.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling asked his friend Gwynne, to buy a paper donkey’s head, for children’s play of ‘Puck and Titania’ in 1904. 1906 saw Kipling’s hard historical work in form of the Puck of Pook’s Hill. The theme of the ‘Puck’ books is the land and people persisting through the time and also about revolution. The verses that accompany these stories mark the height of Kipling’s literary achievement. Much of these verses have been admired and quoted. It was a great work and it was something, which spoke of the great literary heights Kipling had attained.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Highest Honor[/b][br /]
[br /]
The Kiplings had to make a journey to Sweden in 1907, just after their return from Canada. It was the occasion of receiving the highest honor for contributing in the field of literature - Nobel Prize for Literature. His unmatched contribution was recognized worldwide the Nobel committee decided to honor him with the prize. It was a comparatively plain ceremony as the King of Sweden had died recently. As it happens sometime, his award met with criticism too. The Liberal leader Gardiner commented, "The goldsmiths (Thomas Hardy, George Meredith, and Swinburne) are passed by and the literary blacksmith is exalted".[br /]
[br /]
[b]Personal Setbacks[/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling always hated the English winter and since 1900, he had planned out his winters out of England. The Kipling family went to South Africa every year. This continued till 1908, but as the children were growing it was difficult to adjust and they had to stop going every year.[br /]
[br /]
In 1909, Kipling came up with Action and Reaction. His mother was worn out partly by taking care of her unfortunate daughter Trix. Alice Kipling’s health collapsed. Kipling was summoned to Tisbury, a lonely village in the Wiltshire Downs, where his parents had made their home after their return from India. Alice died on November 22, 1910.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling’s father too was old and tired. His last satisfaction in life was to see the publication of Rewards and Fairies, a collection of King Arthur’s 11 stories in 1910. Lockwood died in January 1911.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Loss of John[/b][br /]
[br /]
On August 4, 1914, World War I was declared. There was a public appeal to the nation for voluntary recruitment in the New Army. John, who was not yet 17, went up to London to offer himself for the commission. John was eligible for appointment as ‘Temporary Second Lieutenant’ and also got some training in Officers’ Training Corps to clear the test. He was unable to qualify because of his poor eyesight. He next tried his luck in getting enlisted as a private soldier. Kipling applied his influences and got John appointed in the ‘Irish Guard’ regiment.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, Kipling had started with his new work, he visited the camps, hospitals and seaports writing descriptive articles about them for the Daily Telegraph.[br /]
[br /]
In August, the regiment of Irish Guard was put under the order of France. Kipling bade farewell to John at Bath Club. Before leaving for France, John stayed with the family for three days. On his birthday on August 17, he left them for France.[br /]
[br /]
Within a month, the news came that John was wounded while leading a small party of his men against the Germans. It was a great shock, the Kiplings tried to track down the wounded men of John’s battalion but did not get any information. Almost after two years the actual confirmation of John’s death came. Neither Kipling nor Carrie talked much about their son’s death, but their life without him was never the same.[br /]
[br /]
‘Have you news of my boy Jack ?’[br /]
Not this tide.[br /]
‘When d’you think that he’ll come back ?’[br /]
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.[br /]
‘Has any one else had word of him ?’[br /]
Not this tide.[br /]
For what is sunk will hardly swim,[br /]
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.[br /]
‘Oh, dear, what comfort can I find ?’[br /]
None this tide,[br /]
Nor any tide,[br /]
Except he did not shame his kind –[br /]
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.[br /]
Then hold your head up all the more,[br /]
This tide,[br /]
And every tide;[br /]
Because he was the son you bore,[br /]
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide ![br /]
[br /]
After two uneventful years Kipling and Carrie started for a small voyage to Egypt to avoid the winter of 1913. Kipling continued with his work of travel sketch and Letter of Travel was published that year.[br /]
[br /]
In 1917, Kipling came up with A Diversity of Creatures, containing Regulus, the story of boys who wrestled with the fifth ode. The years after World War I had brought change in Kipling’s work. The Kiplings resumed the motoring-tours in the autumn of 1920. Every visit to France, after the war, had the character of a pilgrimage as there laid their young boy – John.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling had taken up the duty of War Graves Commissioner. After several tours, by spring of 1922, the construction of cemeteries in France was so advanced that the King and the Queen decided to go there on behalf of the whole nation. After the visit to the memorial, the Royal Couple had a private conversation with Kipling and Carrie. They spoke about John.[br /]
[br /]
After the visit, Kipling was exhausted. His work for the War Graves Commission had reached the climax and the most sustained of all his literary efforts – The Irish Guards in the Great War was at last finished. This work brought Kipling happiness. John’s friends visited him and talked in the language of soldiers and talked about Regiment’s experiences. This kept John’s world alive in their imaginations. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Last Decade[/b][br /]
[br /]
After years, Kipling had something to celebrate for. It was their darling daughter’s marriage ceremony. In October 1924, Kipling and Carrie parted from Elsie Kipling. She was married to Captain George Bambridge, who served in Irish Guards. The World War seemed to have laid an undoubtedly great impact on Kipling’s mind. All his later works showed some of its impact. Several effective tales were written based on psychological studies of war. All those tales were collected in 1926 and variety of other pieces in 1926 and published under the general title Debits and Credits.[br /]
[br /]
After Elsie’s marriage, Kipling and his wife had each other for support. The Kiplings were growing old and to escape the winters, they planned a short sea voyage. But due to Kipling’s illness he was recommended a long sea voyage. It was also his dream to go on a long sea voyage and had mentioned it in Just So Stories : ‘I’d love to roll to Rio, some day before I’m old.’ In 1927, the couple crossed the line of Tropic. The man, who had always something to say, wrote Brazilian Sketches for the Morning Post during this period. The voyage surely helped Kipling, but did not help Carrie’s health. In 1929, she was asked to go abroad for her health. Then too, she never relaxed from nursing her husband and also never had a nurse for her.[br /]
[br /]
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew[br /]
To serve your turn long after they are gone,[br /]
And still hold on when there is nothing in you[br /]
Except the will that says to them : Hold on ![br /]
[br /]
Kipling must have written this for Carrie and along with this verse he had also planned a sea voyage for her health. In February 1930, the two of them broke new grounds by sailing for the West Indies. Carrie’s health deteriorated due to appendicitis and she was admitted into the hospital at Bermuda. After recovering from it, they both returned to England by June. This was their last journey exploring the world. In the same year, Thy Servant a Dog was published. It was a genuine attempt to present a dog’s point of view. This book had made a mark and nearly 1,00,000 copies were sold within six months.[br /]
[br /]
Kipling was now aging and losing his health. He did not contribute much in the last years of his life. His last serious work was done in the early months of 1932. It was a kind of conversation piece called Proofs of Holy Writ. In this book, Ben Jonson and Shakespeare are shown discussing the authorized version of the Bible. It was too late to be included in Limits and Renewals. Limits and Renewals was a collection of verses, mostly written in 1927 and 1928.[br /]
[br /]
Then Kipling began to write a book which, as per Carrie, was to deal with his life from the point of view of his work. The book was Something of Myself in which he has preferred to talk about his work than his personal life. This was published posthumously.[br /]
[br /]
During the 1935 summer, Kipling was busy discussing his books like Thy Servant a Dog, The Light that Failed and Elephant Boy with Hollywood agents for making it into a commercial film. Thy Servant a Dog was dropped, but the other two were later made into films.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Kipling’s Last Year [/b][br /]
[br /]
Kipling was now approaching his 70th birthday. He was busy redrafting his will. He was once heard as saying, "Somehow seems to lack charm !" When the day arrived (December 30), neither Kipling nor Carrie were in the mood of jubilation. But to their surprise they got a pile of letters wishing him. Among it was a letter from the King himself in spite of his illness. Kipling felt very proud of it.[br /]
[br /]
The man, who had always avoided English winter, planned to go to Cannes in January 1936. They had already arrived at Brown’s Hotel a few days ago. On January 12, the Kiplings went to Hamstead to see George Bambridge (Elsie’s husband) who was ill with bronchitis. Kipling was in great health and looking forward to his visit to France.[br /]
[br /]
However, on the morning of January 13, Rudyard was rushed to Middlesex Hospital because of a violent hemorrhage attack. It was a blow for the entire world, which was waiting to know how Kipling was doing. Press photographers haunted the hospital and telegrams and telephones poured in. On the 16th his condition worsened. The next day Carrie and Elise were asked to come to the hospital urgently. But Kipling could not recover and on January 18, 1936, on their 44th wedding anniversary, he passed away. The writer whose devotion had been rewarded by the King’s friendship was buried in poet’s corner at Westminster Abbey. [br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] And that is called paying the Dame-geld; but we’ve proved it again and again, that if once you have paid him the Dame-geld you never get rid of the Dame.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] But remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] For the sin they do by two they must pay for one by one.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] We have forty million reasons…but not a single excuse.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Never praise a sister to a sister in the hope of your compliments reaching the proper ears.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbors.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I keep six honest serving-men[br /]
(They taught me all I knew);[br /]
Their names are What and Why and When[br /]
And How and Where and Who.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Humorous Quotes Of Rudyard Kipling[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Being kissed by a man who didn’t wax his moustache was – like eating an egg without salt.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Daughter am I in my mother’s house; But mistress in my own.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I always prefer to believe the best of everybody – it saves so much trouble.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn’t explain away afterwards.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] If any question why we died,[br /]
Tell them, because our fathers lied.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,[br /]
To puff and look important and to say :[br /]
Though we know we should defeat you, [br /]
We have not the time to meet you,[br /]
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I’ve taken my fun where I’ve found it, [br /]
An’ now I must pay for my fun,[br /]
For the more you’ve known o’ the others[br /]
The less will you settle to one.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] But remember please, the Law by which we live, we are not built to comprehend a lie, we can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] For the sin they do by two they must pay for one by one.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] We have forty million reasons…but not a single excuse.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Never praise a sister to a sister in the hope of your compliments reaching the proper ears.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbors.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I keep six honest serving-men[br /]
(They taught me all I knew);[br /]
Their names are What and Why and When[br /]
And How and Where and Who.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Humorous Quotes Of Rudyard Kipling[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Being kissed by a man who didn’t wax his moustache was – like eating an egg without salt.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Daughter am I in my mother’s house; But mistress in my own.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I always prefer to believe the best of everybody – it saves so much trouble.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn’t explain away afterwards.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] If any question why we died,[br /]
Tell them, because our fathers lied.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,[br /]
To puff and look important and to say :[br /]
Though we know we should defeat you, [br /]
We have not the time to meet you,[br /]
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] I’ve taken my fun where I’ve found it, [br /]
An’ now I must pay for my fun,[br /]
For the more you’ve known o’ the others[br /]
The less will you settle to one.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
