The New Student's Reference Work/Kipling, Rudyard



Kip′ling, Rudyard, an author of wide celebrity, was born at, , in 1865, his father being in the English civil service. He was educated in England and, returning to India, became assistant-editor of the Lahore Gazette, and later filled a like post on the Allahabad Pioneer, to both of which he contributed many of his interesting sketches of Anglo-Indian life. His Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), followed by Soldiers Three, The Seven Seas, Barrack-Room Ballads, The Light that Failed, Departmental Ditties, Captains Courageous, Phantom Rickshaw, Under the Deodars and In Black and White, made him known as a writer of masterly short stories and brilliant verse. He married an American, Miss Balestier, of, where he lived for a time. He has since traveled extensively in China and Japan, in South Africa and in Australasia, and on his return from the scenes of the Boer war he resumed his residence in England, at Rottingdean, near Brighton. His writings grow apace, and are received with increasing favor by those who recognize his versatile genius. Especially is he admired throughout the British empire by those who value his militant patriotism, and see in him the uncrowned laureate of the empire. In his Recessional and McAndrew’s Hymn Kipling touched a deeper note than in his novels, as also in some of his other poems and more thoughtful verse. Among his recent notable works are The Day’s Work, Kim, The Jungle Books, Wee Willie Winkie and Puck of Pook’s Hill.