Rudyard Kipling

Error creating thumbnail:

Error creating thumbnail:

  [[File:|frameless|alt=]]

Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet

Native name
Born	30 December 1865 Bombay, British India
Died	18 January 1936 London, England
Resting place
Pen name
Nickname
Occupation	Writer, poet, journalist
Language
Nationality

Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was an English author and poet, born in Bombay, British India. He is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and Just So Stories (1902). Kipling's poetry, such as If— and Gunga Din, is also highly regarded. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date.

Early Life

Kipling was born to John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Kipling (née Macdonald) in Bombay, where his father was a professor of architectural sculpture at the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art. Kipling's early years in India were idyllic, filled with the sights and sounds of the subcontinent, which would later influence his writing.

At the age of six, Kipling and his sister were sent to England to live with a foster family in Southsea, a period he later described as deeply unhappy. He attended the United Services College at Westward Ho!, a boarding school in Devon, which he later fictionalized in his book Stalky & Co..

Career

Kipling returned to India in 1882 to work as a journalist for the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore. His experiences in India provided material for his early stories, which were published in collections such as Plain Tales from the Hills (1888).

In 1889, Kipling left India to travel to the United States and then to England, where he settled in London. His fame grew with the publication of The Jungle Book and its sequel, The Second Jungle Book (1895). These stories, set in the Indian jungle, feature the adventures of Mowgli, a "man-cub" raised by wolves.

Kipling's novel Kim is considered one of his masterpieces, depicting the adventures of an orphaned boy in British India. The novel explores themes of identity and the cultural complexities of colonial India.

Later Life and Legacy

Kipling's later years were marked by personal tragedy, including the death of his son John in World War I. Despite these hardships, he continued to write, producing works such as The Years Between (1919) and Debits and Credits (1926).

Kipling's reputation has fluctuated over the years. While he was celebrated in his lifetime, his imperialist views have been criticized in modern times. Nevertheless, his contributions to literature remain significant, and his works continue to be read and studied worldwide.

Also see

• The Jungle Book
• Kim (novel)
• Just So Stories
• If—
• Gunga Din
• Nobel Prize in Literature