Kipling: Poems Edited by Peter Washington

by Kipling, Rudyard; Washington, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780307267115
• ISBN10: 0307267113
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-16
• Publisher: Everyman's Library

Summary

Beloved for his fanciful and engrossing children's literature, controversial for his enthusiasm for British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling remains one of the most widely read writers of Victorian and modern English literature. In addition to writing more than two dozen works of fiction, includingKimandThe Jungle Book, Kipling was a prolific poet, composing verse in every classical form from the epigram to the ode. Kipling's most distinctive gift was for ballads and narrative poems in which he drew vivid characters in universal situations, articulating profound truths in plain language. Yet he was also a subtle, affecting anatomist of the human heart, and his deep feeling for the natural world was exquisitely expressed in his verse. He was shattered by World War I, in which he lost his only son, and his work darkened in later years but never lost its extraordinary vitality. All of these aspects of Kipling's poetry are represented in this selection, which ranges from such well-known compositions as "Mandalay" and "If" to the less-familiar, emotionally powerful, and personal epigrams he wrote in response to the war.

Author Biography

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India to British parents on December 30, 1865. In 1871, Rudyard and his sister, Trix, aged three, were left to be cared for by a couple in Southsea, England. Five years passed before he saw his parents again. His sense of desertion and despair were later expressed in his story “Baa Baa, Black Sheep” (1888), in his novel The Light that failed (1890), and his autobiography, Something of Myself (1937). As late as 1935 Kipling still spoke bitterly of the “House of Desolation” at Southsea: “I should like to burn it down and plough the place with salt.”

At twelve he entered a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. In Stalky and CO. (1899) the myopic Beetle is a self-caricature, and the days at Westward Ho are recalled with mixed feelings. At sixteen, eccentric and literary, Kipling sailed to India to become a journalist. His Indian experiences led to seven volumes of stories, including Soldiers Three (1888) and Wee Willie Winkie (1888).

At twenty-four he returned to England and quickly tuned into a literary celebrity. In London he became close friends with an American, (Charles) Wolcott Balestier, with whom he collaborated on what critics called a “dime store novel.” Wolcott died suddenly in 1891, and a few weeks later Kipling married Wolcott’s sister, Caroline. The newlyweds settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1895), and most of Captains Courageous (1897). By this time Kipling’s popularity and financial success were enormous.

In 1899 the Kipling’s settled in Sussex, England, where he wrote some of his best books: Kim (1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pooks Hill (1906). In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize for literature. By the time he died, on January 18 1936, critical opinion was deeply divided about his writings, but his books continued to be read by thousands, and such unforgettable poems and stories as “Gunga Din,” “If,” “The Man Who Would Be King,” and “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” have lived on in the consciousness of succeeding generations.

Peter Washington is the editor of several Everyman's Library Pocket Poet anthologies, including Love Poems, Friendship Poems, and Poems of Mourning.

Table of Contents

When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre'	p. 11
General Summary	p. 12
The Undertaker's Horse	p. 14
The Story of Uriah	p. 16
Public Waste	p. 18
The Lovers' Litany	p. 21
Christmas in India	p. 23
The Betrothed	p. 26
The Winners	p. 31
Danny Deever	p. 32
Shillin' a Day	p. 35
Tommy	p. 37
The Widow at Windsor	p. 40
Gentlemen-Rankers	p. 42
Gunga Din	p. 45
Mandalay	p. 49
The English Flag	p. 52
Arithmetic on the Frontier	p. 58
'Wilful-Missing'	p. 60
Giffen's Debt	p. 62
Divided Destinies	p. 65
Cells	p. 67
The Exiles' Line	p. 69
When Earth's Last Picture is Painted	p. 73
The Law of the Jungle	p. 74
Road-Song of the Bandar-Log	p. 78
The Married Man	p. 80
'For to admire'	p. 83
Buddha at Kamakura	p. 86
From The Jungle Book	p. 89
The King	p. 90
The Ladies	p. 92
Recessional	p. 95
The White Man's Burden	p. 96
A School Song	p. 99
The Two-Sided Man	p. 102
Bridge-Guard in the Karoo	p. 103
The Islanders	p. 107
The Broken Men	p. 113
Sussex	p. 116
Chant-Pagan	p. 120
Lichtenberg	p. 123
Harp Song of the Dane Women	p. 125
'Rimini'	p. 127
The Sons of Martha	p. 129
The Explanation	p. 132
The Answer	p. 133
A Song of Travel	p. 134
The Oldest Song	p. 136
The Power of the Dog	p. 137
The Puzzler	p. 139
Norman and Saxon	p. 141
Song of the Wise Children	p. 143
The Rabbi's Song	p. 145
A Charm	p. 147
Cold Iron	p. 149
The Way Through the Woods	p. 151
Puck's Song	p. 152
A Pict Song	p. 154
Merrow Down	p. 156
The Run of the Downs	p. 158
Just So Verses	p. 159
The Two Cousins	p. 168
'Cities and Thrones and Powers'	p. 169
If -	p. 170
'Our fathers of old'	p. 172
The Female of the Species	p. 175
The Roman Centurion's Song	p. 179
Dane-Geld	p. 181
The Glory of the Garden	p. 183
'For all we have and are'	p. 186
'The Trade'	p. 188
The Question	p. 190
My Boy Jack	p. 192
Mesopotamia	p. 193
The Deep-Sea Cables	p. 195
The Holy War	p. 196
Jobson's Amen	p. 199
The Fabulists	p. 201
Justice	p. 203
The Hyaenas	p. 205
Gehazi	p. 207
En-Dor	p. 209
Gethsemane	p. 211
The Craftsman	p. 212
The Benefactors	p. 213
Natural Theology	p. 216
A Death-Bed	p. 219
Epitaphs of the War	p. 221
The Gods of the Copybook Headings	p. 231
Doctors	p. 234
Lollius	p. 235
The Last Ode	p. 237
London Stone	p. 238
The Flight	p. 240
Chartres Windows	p. 242
A Legend of Truth	p. 243
We and They	p. 245
Untimely	p. 247
Gertrude's Prayer	p. 248
The Threshold	p. 249
The Expert	p. 252
Four-Feet	p. 253
The Storm Cone	p. 254
The Appeal	p. 255
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