2. Poet Introduction

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born on \(30\) December \(1865\) in Bombay, India. He was a poet, novelist, short story writer and journalist. He was born to Alice Kipling and John Lockwood Kipling, who were both natives of Britain, who had moved to India in \(1865\). They were ardent lovers of the scenic beauty and explorers of nature and named their son after the Rudyard lake area in England. Kipling's parents considered themselves Anglo-Indians, but Kipling spent the major part of his life in Britain. He stayed in Bombay for five years and was taken to England to continue his education. It was customary for the British settlers in India to send their children to people who would board the children of British Nationals living abroad.

 

 

Kipling had a hard time in Britain, partly because of the identity crisis and alienation he faced. He was highly bullied in school, and he was facing problems in terms of culture and language. Although he was British, he felt a lack of belongingness in both his native land and the foreign land. He started writing about this experience to vent his emotions. He was later put on to an army school and returned to India to take up a job as an assistant editor in Lahore. He worked for the local newspaper named 'Civil and Military Gazette'. He published his first article, 'Department Ditties', in 1886.  He stayed for a long time in Shimla, which was the summer capital of British India, and wrote extensively about the hill station. Most of his prose pieces featured Shimla and his grandmother and cousin with whom he lived.

 

Kipling saved money and returned to London. He was deeply interested in the culture and tradition of Japan. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in \(1907\), citing his works and discussions on the manners and customs of the Japanese. He travelled across the continent in his later part of life and wrote extensively. He is famous as the author of The Jungle Book and The White Man's Burden.

 

Famous works of Rudyard Kipling: