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A choice of Kipling's verse
'The best criticism renews our interest in an author, and that is what Mr Eliot has done in his remarkable essay which prefaces his own selection from Kipling's verse . . . a mature essay full of insight . . . Mr Eliot's essay is an admirable example of the finest type of criticism. He succeeds in making us look at his subject's work with freshly opened eyes and he is at once sober, illuminating and sound.' Spectator
306 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
7,777 books3,859 followersJoseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".
Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."
Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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April 26, 2023Ah, Mary pierced with sorrow,
Remember, reach and save
The soul that comes to-morrow
Before the God that gave!
Since each was born of woman,
For each at utter need –
True comrade and true foeman –
Madonna, intercede!
from "Hymn Before Action."
Remember, reach and save
The soul that comes to-morrow
Before the God that gave!
Since each was born of woman,
For each at utter need –
True comrade and true foeman –
Madonna, intercede!
from "Hymn Before Action."
April 10, 2019
I am in the midst of a long period of schooling in which the only poetry I am taught is modern poetry, which, in my opinion, could be accomplished equally well by prose with awkward line breaks. This is a book I pick up in bed when I'm bored but not all there mentally. My favourites are: 'Dedication from the Barrack-Room Ballads', 'Tommy', and 'Cold Iron'.
November 27, 2020
This book has two components, an excellent opening essay on Rudyard Kipling by poet T.S. Eliot, followed by over one hundred-twenty of Kipling's poems selected by Eliot. I was led to the work by an essay in George Orwell's My Country Right or Left. Orwell's essay was on Eliot's book, particularly his essay, and was so compelling that I had to put Orwell aside for a bit.
Eliot writes of the changes in Kipling's work through the years, "As a man grows older, he may turn to new subject-matter, or he may treat the same material in a different way; as we age we both live in a different world, and become different men in the same world." Eliot later observes, "that the critical tools which we are accustomed to use in analyzing and criticising poetry do not seem to work: I confess furthermore that introspection into my own processes affords no assistance--part of the fascination of this subject is in the exploration of a mind so different from one's own." Eliot concludes that one must note the difference between verse, "some very good verse," and poetry; Kipling qualifies more as a verse writer than a poet, but importantly, he is also a very good writer of stories, a skill many poets lack.
The poems/verses Eliot selects include many that are new to me, and I was glad to meet them. There are a fair number of the most familiar of Kipling's verses, as well. The unfamiliar works are sometimes difficult because of the vocabulary, words of special meaning in a world over a century away. Nonetheless, while added explication by Orwell would be welcome, one may enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of Kipling's work.
Recommended for those who enjoy good writing about literature and writers.
Eliot writes of the changes in Kipling's work through the years, "As a man grows older, he may turn to new subject-matter, or he may treat the same material in a different way; as we age we both live in a different world, and become different men in the same world." Eliot later observes, "that the critical tools which we are accustomed to use in analyzing and criticising poetry do not seem to work: I confess furthermore that introspection into my own processes affords no assistance--part of the fascination of this subject is in the exploration of a mind so different from one's own." Eliot concludes that one must note the difference between verse, "some very good verse," and poetry; Kipling qualifies more as a verse writer than a poet, but importantly, he is also a very good writer of stories, a skill many poets lack.
The poems/verses Eliot selects include many that are new to me, and I was glad to meet them. There are a fair number of the most familiar of Kipling's verses, as well. The unfamiliar works are sometimes difficult because of the vocabulary, words of special meaning in a world over a century away. Nonetheless, while added explication by Orwell would be welcome, one may enjoy the rhythm and rhyme of Kipling's work.
Recommended for those who enjoy good writing about literature and writers.
November 1, 2019
Quite a good collection of the poetry of the most interesting - and, for better or worse, influential -products of the British Empire.
The poems themselves have seeped so deeply into British canon that judging them on their quality may be irrelevent. What matters is that people took Kipling at face value for decades, and here we have both his greatest hits as well as more obscure work that showcases the evolution of a man whose life and work both invited and eluded neat categorization.
The only thing disappointing about this collection is the forewored by T.S. Eliot, which broadly speaking is perfectly adequate and interesting within its aims - but as a Bangladeshi reader, one wants a far greater engagement and critique of Kipling's role as imperial spokesman. It's perfectly fine that Eliot was not the man equipped to provide this analysis; this does not mean I have to accept his foreword as adequate.
The poems themselves have seeped so deeply into British canon that judging them on their quality may be irrelevent. What matters is that people took Kipling at face value for decades, and here we have both his greatest hits as well as more obscure work that showcases the evolution of a man whose life and work both invited and eluded neat categorization.
The only thing disappointing about this collection is the forewored by T.S. Eliot, which broadly speaking is perfectly adequate and interesting within its aims - but as a Bangladeshi reader, one wants a far greater engagement and critique of Kipling's role as imperial spokesman. It's perfectly fine that Eliot was not the man equipped to provide this analysis; this does not mean I have to accept his foreword as adequate.
August 23, 2022
T.S. Eliot's selection has not made me keen to actually purchase the definitive collection of Kipling's verse, which I had had earmarked. This is three-hundred pages, and the DE is seven-hundred or so - the question is, did Eliot select with a bias towards Kipling' larps as a gawd-fearin' souljah with painful grammar 'n awl, and if that's the case, is the rest verse worth reading?
Most of this is as said a painfully forced vernacular wrapping blithe expression of life on the frontier. Kipling's best work on war in the volume was written after his son had been killed (worse - went missing), at which point the marching and drinking songs written from armchair rather than tavern seem to have lost their appeal. Those poems are moving; his work before certainly aren't.
I didn't go in with an axe to grind but I haven't come out with an urge to forage to adorn with laurels, either. You'd have hoped being raised in a land that is the fountainhead of sharp, expressive poetry, something would have rubbed off; sadly, if it did, it was only in patches and moments.
Most of this is as said a painfully forced vernacular wrapping blithe expression of life on the frontier. Kipling's best work on war in the volume was written after his son had been killed (worse - went missing), at which point the marching and drinking songs written from armchair rather than tavern seem to have lost their appeal. Those poems are moving; his work before certainly aren't.
I didn't go in with an axe to grind but I haven't come out with an urge to forage to adorn with laurels, either. You'd have hoped being raised in a land that is the fountainhead of sharp, expressive poetry, something would have rubbed off; sadly, if it did, it was only in patches and moments.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews